Ed.

the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Fall 2010 | vol. LiV, no. 1

Have things changed for gay students?

Today’s younger principals

visionary
Ed. The Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education | fall 2010 | vol. lIV, no. 1

departments
3 Dean’s Perspective

10 4 Letters

6 The Appian Way

36 36 In the Media

42 Alumni News and Notes

Long Way to Go 48 Recess

24
The don’t ask, don’t tell policy is being reviewed.
Gay marriage is allowed in five states. More and
more television shows feature gay characters.
Are schools in the United States also more
welcoming for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender students?
48

features Stay plugged in stories and links found only online

16 Cane, Able
In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act
was enacted, explicitly stating that children with disabilities
www.gse.harvard.edu
The school’s newly renovated 34
events
Conferences. Askwiths. Deadlines. Don’t miss a thing.
were entitled to receive the same public education as non- www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/events
disabled students. How one blind student — and eventual Larsen classrooms were rec-
teacher — fared in public school more than two decades ognized in July by the United twitter
before the legislation was passed. States Green Building Council We tweet. You follow. So simple.
as the first LEED-CI Platinum www.twitter.com/hgse
classrooms in the world.
facebook
We’re the Facebook friend approved by your boss.
Modern Age www.facebook.com/HarvardEducation
They have less teaching experience Change is good! So it’s a
but greater responsibility. Today’s good thing that the school’s youtube
crop of younger principals talks website is getting a new look Yup, we have a YouTube channel!

30
about whether or not age has any- and new features. Watch for www.youtube.com/HarvardEducation
thing to do with being an effective the debut later this fall.
school leader. flickr
Photos that capture the school.
www.flickr.com/photos/harvardeducation

Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 1

 Ed.
The Magazine of the
Harvard Graduate
School of Education
senior writer/editor
Lory Hough
lory_hough@harvard.edu
production manager/editor
Marin Jorgensen
marin_jorgensen@harvard.edu
designer
Paula Telch Cooney
paula_telch@harvard.edu
Director of
Communications
Michael Rodman
michael_rodman@harvard.edu
Communications intern
Jazmin Brooks
contributing writers
Roanne Bosch, Ed.M.’08
Jazmin Brooks
Judah Leblang
Amy Magin Wong
Josh Moss
Matt Shapiro, Ed.M.’10
photographers
Jill Anderson
Mark Morelli
Tanit Sakakini
Martha Stewart
illustrators
Jeff Hopkins, Ed.M.’05
Sandra Dionisi
Michael Klein
copyeditor
Abigail Mieko Vargus
© 2010 by the President and
Fellows of Harvard College.
Ed. magazine is published three
times a year, free of charge,
for alumni, faculty, students,
and friends of the Harvard
Graduate School of Education.
This issue is No. 1 of Vol. LIV,
Fall 2010. Third-class
postage paid at Burlington, VT
and additional offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to:
Harvard Graduate School of
Education
Office of Communications
44R Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
www.gse.harvard.edu
To read Ed. online, go to
www.gse.harvard.edu/ed.
2 Ed.
PULLING BACK THE COVER
dean’s perspective
a b c d e f g h i j Dear Friends:
a b c d e f g h i j
k l m n o p q r s t
This issue of Ed. celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Education for All
Handicapped Children Act (later renamed Individuals with Disabilities
Act, or IDEA) — a piece of legislation that advocate Stephen Luke,
k l m n o p q r s t Capital Number
Ed.D.’03, calls “a game-changer for children with disabilities.” In her
commemorative article, author Lory Hough frames the history of IDEA
and its ongoing significance for students through the life of David Ticchi,
u v w x y z Sign Sign Period Comma Ed.M.’69, C.A.S.’71, Ed.D.’76, an Ed School alumnus and one of the first
u v w x y Z # d a blind teachers in Massachusetts. Through Ticchi’s compelling story we see
the critical importance of mandating equal education opportunities for all.
a
The six dots of 1 4 The capital sign, The number sign, dots 3, 4, 5, 6, placed 1 4
IDEA has certainly provided a foundation for equal treatment under
ll
the braille cell
#
2
3
5
6
dot 6, placed before
6
before the characters a through j, makes 2
3
5
6
the law for students with disabilities, but changing cultural norms and
attitudes in some of our nation’s schools remains a struggle. Professor
a
are arranged
and numbered:
a letter makes a
capital letter.
the numbers 1 through 0. For example: a
preceded by the number sign is 1, b is 2, etc.
Tom Hehir cites “ableism,” or discrimination based on physical ability,
as a barrier to all students’ learning, not just those with special needs.
Although Ticchi’s academic success and perserverance eventually earned
information provided by the National Braille Press inc.
him a B.A. from Holy Cross and an Ed.M. and Ed.D. from the Ed School,
as a high school student, he was advised to aspire to become a fruit seller
jonesfoto
Dot Dilemma in a subway station — not an academic or a teacher.
Too often students are faced with low expecatations that can limit their achievement. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
When we decided to use braille on the cover of this issue of the magazine, we had no idea how
has called for students with disabilities to graduate from high school ready for college and a career, just like their peers, as part
much back and forth there would be between our office, Ed alum and cover story star David
of an education strategy that promotes inclusiveness and asks teachers to be prepared to adequately address the needs of all
Ticchi, our printer in Vermont, and the National Braille Press, a nonprofit publisher located in
students. With 54 million Americans currently living with disabilities, the success of our democracy depends on our collec-
Boston that had agreed to emboss the braille dots onto the cover. Knowing that books have been
printed in braille since the late 1820s, we thought: How hard would one cover be? tive ability to educate students across a spectrum of learning needs. As one of Ticchi’s junior high school students once wrote,
But the questions flew back and forth for days: Is there a standard size braille font? Does it “Maybe if we give people a chance, they just might jump out and shock us.”
matter if we capitalize letters or bold them? Will 100 lb. text paper “hold” the dots or do we need
to use something heavier? Will the dots get crushed once the magazine gets bound — something Sincerely,
both printers feared could happen?
Some of the questions were easier to answer than others.
Yes, explained Diane Croft, Ed.M.’81, vice president of E di tor ’s N ot e :
publishing for National Braille Press, there is a standard Confused about the cover? Kathleen McCartney
size braille “cell,” with each dot measuring 0.02 inches. Feel like you’re in the dark? July 2010
And yes, cell attributes — bold and capital, for example — That was part of our thinking as
do matter. A test run on the braille press showed us that we brainstormed how to design
the raised dots came out fine on the paper we normally the cover. So often, people with
use for our covers. The harder question — would the dots disabilities are not considered
get crushed during the binding process — had us debating when choices are made. We
for days whether or not to attempt braille on a standard thought we’d turn the tables on
magazine cover, something, apparently, that is rarely done. our readers. And since we know
In the spirit of leaders like David Ticchi, who has never you’re curious, the headline on
taken the easy road, we decided to take a chance. With the cover says visionary.
fingers crossed, we await the answer!
• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 3
 letters
Motivation
Last night I picked up the issue highlight-
ing “Outside Chance” (summer 2010) and
I have to admit I was brought to tears. I
graduated from HGSE in 2007 and since
then have tried to find a way to get more
involved with the Harvard Alumni As-
sociation but, quite frankly, I did not see
a connection between the work that gets
done in Los Angeles and my personal
mission in life — until now! I realize that
I need to take the same approach I have
taken in life, the approach that got me to
Harvard and earned me a master’s in edu-
cation policy. This publication helped get
me to where I need to be — more involved
with the Southern California Harvard
Alumni and pushing them to do the work
that needs to get done in the marginalized
communities that need it most.
Llanet Martin, Ed.M.’07
Great article on the prison life and those
affected by it. Very inspiring and motivat-
ing for those who have made it through
with the support, trust, and mentor-
ing from staff and students offering an
alternative to prison life. Congratulations,
Noel Gomez, on a job well done. May your
example be made by more to transform
many.
Jeanette Padilla
4 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
China’s one-child policy is understandable
with the country struggling to increase
production of consumer goods and to
feed a booming population. Although it
was intended to bring about a decline in
population and better living standards,
even the “positive effects” of the policy are
not decisively positive. The policy has laid
a huge burden on the future generation
to sustain their family after retirement.
Teaching children at the tender age of two
to learn might produce a prodigy before
the teens but is absolutely unnecessary.
China can help its people by schemes
that include reusing and recycling waste.
Undoubtedly, despite growing pressures
ed carréon
on arable land the world over, food chains
and restaurants are still throwing away
excess food. By checking such wasteful
Lessons From and For China
practices, it is possible to achieve China’s
“One and Only” (summer 2010) kept me
intended sustenance.
engaged and eager to learn more about the
Shawn Mathew Kailath
focus topic. I found myself wondering how
this policy could affect America. If only
As a the only child of my family, I some-
America could prioritize education in the
times feel lonely and stressful, but in most
way that the Chinese see educational im-
cases, I feel very lucky to be on my own.
portance, would this change our econo-
Xin Zhang
my? Would the effects be positive? With
healthcare and social security [that China
This is a wonderful article that inspires
is in need of] that we have as a safety net,
me to think more. As a member of the
there would not be pressure on children. If
singleton generation in China, I’ve totally
we set a generation-long goal of changing
experienced the same growth process.
how our population perceives education,
Something I came to realize in recent
would we — could we — have a nation full
years is that parents of singletons will
of scholars by 2020? I wonder if we began
never let them go. My personal story,
changing one city at a time, then one
state, then the nation,
stressing the importance
of education to children
and even, in many sad
cases, their own parents,
could we create ambas-
sadors for education,
which would improve
the livelihood of genera-
tions to come? Would
this domino effect of
educational importance
sculpt into what could
leigh Wells
be … a Perfect America?
Celyse Drew-Robinson
and ones heard from my friends, is skills and a capacity for learning
that parents will continue to play that will serve them well over the
an influencing role even after their course of a lifetime. As educators,
trent campbell
child’s formal schooling. They still we must work together to resist
feel responsible when it comes to the “teaching to the test” move-
decisionmaking about their child’s ment. We must continue to make
career selection, dating mate choice, place the appropriate flag on a stick. The the case for creative and diverse
and even child rearing decisions. game was to learn not only where coun- approaches to learning that help students
Nan tries or states were, but also the names and develop as critical thinkers, with curiosity
locations of their capitals. All of this was and enthusiasm for learning as well as a
learned before the child would read. My commitment to social responsibility — at
I Spy a Fan two children had an early awareness of the all levels of education.
I knew Jean Marzollo’s work (“One-on- world and, as preschool people, knew more Peggy Williams, Ed.D.’83
One,” summer 2010) before I knew Jean. geography than most adults today. The President emerita , Ithaca College
I came to know Jean when her nephew knowledge stuck and is recalled as fun.
married my daughter. I have come to
Ann Marvin, Ed.M.’56
treasure Jean as I watch her enchant my
two grandsons, her grandnephews. Her
work is remarkably cerebral and playful Pay Perspective
all at once. In reference to pay for performance in
Gay Wagner the dean’s perspective, (winter 2010), “We
just haven’t figured out yet how to reward
high-performing teachers.” Really? You
reward high-performing teachers as you
would reward any valued professional —
with higher pay and more responsibility
within the organization, including men-
toring those new to the profession. I
Odds & Ends (original) ©1982 Walter Wick
thought the difficulty was in identifying
the high-performing teachers — by what
james yang
common standards? Student test scores?
Peer review? Administrator’s evaluation?
Classroom visits?
Joel Poholsky, Ed.M.’84
Right on the Article
On the Map Thank you for the informative and timely
In the summer edition (2010), an article article, “Right on the Money” (winter Ed. magazine welcomes
was featured called “Map Quest” by Lory 2010) about the pay for performance correspondence from all of its readers.
Hough. The idea of having large maps movement in K–12 education. The issues Send letters to:
that children can walk on is not new. My of most-effective teaching and incentive
Ed. magazine
children, now 50 and 48, walked [on] and strategies extend beyond K–12 to the Letters to the Editor
learned from large maps when they went world of higher education. Colleges and Harvard Graduate School of Education
Office of Communications
to a Montessori school at two and three universities have a vital interest in these
44R Brattle Street
years of age. Maureen Coughlin was the matters as we are not interested in admit-
Cambridge, MA 02138
director of the school in Milton, Mass. ting students who have been taught “to E-mail: letters@gse.harvard.edu
She purchased her teaching tools from the test” and who bring this expectation Online Comments: www.gse.harvard.edu/ed
the Montessori supplies system. On the to the college setting. Rather we endeavor Please note that letters may be edited
windowsill were many flags on sticks. The to admit high school graduates who are for clarity and space.
huge maps had holes where a child could interested in developing intellectual
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 5
 the appian way
When Bob Peterkin took over the Urban Superintendents
Program (USP) in 1991, a year after it began, he knew the
program had a lot of work to do. At the time, only about 5
percent of the nation’s superintendents were female, and even
fewer — just 1 percent — were people of color. A former super-
intendent himself, Peterkin wanted to change that. “My old joke
was, ‘There’s nothing wrong with the old boys’ network. We just
weren’t in it,’” he says. And the program did help. Within 15
years, the percentage of female superintendents shot to 21; the
percentage of people of color jumped to six. But Peterkin wasn’t
content with just boosting numbers: He wanted to ensure that
every student coming out of the program was as prepared as
possible to make a difference. Now, with the program officially
ending as the school’s new doctor of education leadership
degree (Ed.L.D.) begins, Peterkin says goodbye — mostly — to
the school he has called home for nearly two decades. In April,
he spoke to Ed. magazine about what they accomplished, signs
of a good superintendent, and how an ever-growing record col-
lection will make easing into retirement less difficult.
Do you think the Urban Superintendents Program did what it set
out to do?
One of our missions was to increase the pool of women and
people of color. These stats, while modest, are staggering for
a school of our size, especially if you count the number of
kids in the school districts where we’ve had superintendents.
We wanted to radiate out the influence for underserved kids.
We did that. I feel good about it.
Cohorts seem really integral to the program. Why?
Just to get through this program, you can’t do it alone, and
there’s no reason to do it alone. Plus, you need that net-
mark morelli
have to have the wherewithal to get it done. Both of these
take the third.
Which is?
Courage.
You haven’t mentioned charisma. Isn’t that critical for
leadership?
In America, being a charismatic leader only gets you so far.
But I can name lots of leaders who are not necessarily charis-
matic but have led amazing change.
How would you have benefited from a program like this?
I was in Boston for 10 years. I went from principal to area
superintendent to budget director to three types of deputy
superintendent, so I was up close to the superintendency,
but I never got training in how to communicate a vision. I
had a strong vision, but it was hard for me to articulate it to
the community and convince them that they should follow.
The internship would also have been invaluable. With an
internship, when you make a mistake, it’s okay. As a deputy or
superintendent, it’s not okay.
Are you really retiring?
From the school. It’s time. It’s been a good long run, but the
program has evolved into the Ed.L.D. degree. And it’s time
for me to do the ad hoc things that I’ve always wanted to do.
I’ll be working closely with 15 superintendents in New Jersey
and on a Harvard project in Soweto, South Africa. I’m going
to mentor principals in Boston, including at English High
School, where I was once the principal. And I’m part of a team
that is finishing a book of case studies on leadership that we

Name: Bob Peterkin Title: professor emeritus, former director of the Urban Superintendents Program
Focus: saying goodbye
“We wanted to radiate out the
influence for underserved kids.
We did that. I feel good about it.”
work, that connection, once you leave here. If one of our
students goes off to become the chancellor of New York City
or superintendent of Baltimore or Philadelphia, his or her
cohort-mates will be there for a phone call or, increasingly, to
fly in and help.
It seems like USP graduates jump into top leadership jobs
really quickly.
One of the reasons our graduates are in such high positions
so early is that the superintendents who hire them know they
have a certain skill set. Plus we are quality control. We never
sent anyone out there who couldn’t hack it.
You’ve had almost two decades to think about this: What makes
a good superintendent?
hope practitioners will use. Our goal is to be number one on
Amazon for a day.
And your USP students?
My students are becoming superintendents all over the
country and they want me to help them. This is the next level.
It’s like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon character says:
The mentor should want the protégée to be more. That would
make me very happy.
What will you miss?
I’ll seriously miss my students who have become my col-
leagues and friends. A lot of organizations claim this, but
we really were — are — a family. And the faculty cares what
happens to USP students. At the celebration party in April,

Goodbye and All That Jazz First, someone has to commit to a vision of equitable educa-
tion for all. And I mean a real commitment, like I’m willing
to get fired over this. The second is theory of change. It’s not
you should have seen the hugging. I’ll miss that on a daily
basis. But I have a huge CD collection of jazz and at least
5,000 records. And there are at least 10 jazz clubs in this area.
By Lory Hough
enough to talk a good game and inspire a community. You I’ll be fine.

6 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 7
 the appian way
5
STUDENT impact
Stir the Pot By Matt Shapiro, Ed.M.’10
Reasons to Know ... Although Nancy Sommers’ bril-
liant course, Teachers as Writers,
Uche Amaechi is foremost a class on how to
doctoral student develop your writing through the
Culture, Communities, and creative essay, the entire class was
required last semester to write
Education Concentration
an op-ed and then try to get it
published. Since the op-ed is a
He initially intended to become a medical doctor. He even
markedly different assignment
started down the pre-med path at Harvard College, graduating
than the essay, Sommers felt the
with a degree in biology. But after a couple of summers teach- need to convince the class of
ing in Cambridge, Mass., Uche Amaechi was hooked. Following the assignment’s merits. “If you
graduation, he went back to the classroom to help run several get published, then you get your
afterschool programs, including one at the Fletcher Maynard opinion out there,” she said. “This
Academy, a public school in Cambridge where he now serves as is your chance to stir the pot.”
the extended day director. Today, this Nigerian-born doctoral Since every student in the class
had a different background, we
student is combining his work with children with his initial love
all chose different pots that we
of science as part of Associate Professor Mica Pollock’s OneVille
felt needed stirring. One student
research project based in neighboring Somerville. wrote an entreaty to her home
state, imploring state officials to
1
His interest in working with children, especially the underserved, resist their seemingly reflexive
urge to once again cut funding for
started early. Growing up with a single mother who is a nurse, he
helped take care of his younger siblings. “This is part of the reason
Observant Student By
the arts. I chose to write about the
I now want to give back,” he says. use
LoryofHough
Wikipedia in the classroom,
and more generally on the new
2
Although much of his school-based work has focused on af- research challenges today’s media
terschool programs, along with a group of other afterschool presents to students. Regardless
program providers, he is working on ways to connect extended of our topic, we were all inspired
day with the regular day. “There doesn’t need to be a divide.” to write about something that
mattered to us — something from
3
our experience as students or
Working with Pollock, he is exploring how to use social technol-
ogy, such as wikis, to allow everyone involved in a young person’s teachers that we felt needed to
life — teachers, parents, coaches, and mentors — to communicate be addressed. If you’re going to
regularly about the student. stir the pot, then you better stir it
with feeling.
4
Volunteering is important to him. For the past six years, he’s been Many of my classmates were fortunate enough to get their
a board member of the Science Club for Girls, a nonprofit that pieces published; however, the results were often less glam-
motivates girls to become interested in science. He’s also co- orous than we had hoped. The classmate who wrote about
chair of CityStep, a partnership between Harvard and the city of arts education realized the repercussions of stirring a pot
Cambridge that offers performing arts year-round to students. close to the boiling point. “Maybe we should teach kids math
before we teach them how to draw,” was one of the many
5
When he’s not in a classroom, he’s on the dance floor. A few years negative comments she received from readers. My article
ago, after a friend brought him to a salsa club in Boston for the was published online in Education Week, but to read the
first time, he started teaching the rhythmic dance at a nightclub, piece required a subscription, which neither myself nor my
martha stewart
the Ed School, and Harvard’s Currier House, where he serves as a classmates had. I wanted my voice to be heard, but after being
nonresident tutor. Tango has become his latest passion. published, I felt like I was shouting from some unknown loca-
tion deep in cyberspace.
8 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
In light of these experiences, you
might ask yourself, “Why stir the pot?”
After all, opinions are stubborn things,
and even the most cogent op-ed is
much more likely to evoke the ire of the
opposition than change anyone’s mind.
Besides, these issues are already being
debated by policymakers, politicians,
and parents. Surely whatever flavor
I add to the mix will be lost within
the myriad other ingredients already
crowding the pot.
One op-ed certainly will not change
the world, but my opinion draws from
my unique experience, and therefore I
can provide new insight into an ongoing
debate; I can enter the conversation
with the voice of a teacher. As a teacher,
I am keenly aware of classroom issues —
like Wikipedia usage — that are too
small for policymakers and too class-
room-specific for parents. And when
teachers write about these issues, it gets
teachers talking.
I rescued my op-ed from the online
void by sending it to my former depart-
ment head. He replied by saying, “Do you
mind if I post this? I think it could spark
some good debate.” I was ecstatic. The
impetus to write the op-ed came from
my concern over some of my former
ed.m.’05
colleagues’ attitudes toward Wikipedia.
anderson
jeff Hopkins,
Now, because I stirred the pot, that
betsy
policy might actually be reviewed.
Stirring the pot can be a dangerous
affair, but if you care about an issue, it
ultimately will be a rewarding endeavor. People will disagree
with you, sometimes vehemently, but that’s exactly the point.
When we as educators put our opinions out in the open for ev-
eryone to see, we spark debate on a topic that might otherwise
be lost in the stew. The debate may be relegated to your own
school, but at least you’ve been heard. My op-ed may not have
changed a lot of minds, but perhaps it changed the one mind
that inspired me to write the piece.
— Matt Shapiro graduated in May of this year. Before earn-
ing his degree, he taught science at the middle and high school
levels in New York City and Concord, Mass.
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 9
 the appian way
A TO B: Why I Got into Education
A Way In By Roanne Bosch, Ed.M.’08
Like my father and his father, I am a teacher, but teaching
was never something I imagined I would end up doing. While
it was an esteemed profession for my grandfather and an
acceptable one for my father, for me, teaching was never the
important work that dreams were made of. I began my time
as a Teach For America (TFA) corps member in New Orleans
thinking I could do this work for two years while I decided
what I really wanted to do with my life. Teaching was good
service. It would look good on the resume. But it was not the
stuff of dreams.
Yet no words or pictures could have prepared me for the
extreme racial segregation of the schools and the poverty
and hopelessness I found in New Orleans. It was determined
by the TFA staff that I would become a teacher in one of
the poorest performing schools in the poorest performing
district in a state consistently at the bottom of any ranking of
state educational quality in the United States. And I, a newly
minted bachelor of science in environmental studies and biol-
ogy, would teach high school English. But this arrangement
was temporary, so, with little time to think, I jumped in.
One afternoon that first December, a grandmother of one
of my 10th-graders stopped by at the end of the day to talk
about her granddaughter’s absences. We sat together on the
school steps and talked about make-up work. Mid-sentence,
she stopped. When she spoke again, her words came louder
and faster. She started going on about how great it was that
a white girl like me would come down South to try to put
some sense in the heads of these poor ignorant black kids.
Surprised, I tripped over my explanations: That’s not what I
was doing. … That’s not who these kids are. … education …
it’s … I had no good answer for her, and she wouldn’t have my
stuttering. No, she insisted, clinging to her characterization
of me and of my students, I was doing good work, and I would
show these kids how what they knew was not going to get
them anywhere. I didn’t understand what she was saying. I
certainly had no response.
But as I walked up the crumbling concrete steps back into
the school after our conversation, stepping over crushed milk
cartons and candy wrappers, some understanding of her
words started to take hold. Months after coming into a school
with broken windows patched by cardboard and too few
desks for too many students, I understood that my student’s
grandmother saw this place as a way out, and she saw me
holding some portion of her granddaughter’s future in my
hands. In all my stumbling as a new teacher, I was not the
only one chasing dreams.
10 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
jeff Hopkins, ed.m.’05
My father came to teaching to pay the bills. He clung to
his graduate school texts and animal traps as if they con-
tained his dream of becoming a wildlife biologist who studied
coyotes in the Adirondacks and wolves in Montana. Instead,
he left graduate school and took a position, temporarily, as a
teacher after my older brother was born, and has stayed now
for 39 years. The profession, for him, cannot be separated
from a narrative of unrealized dreams. While he is a capable
and well-loved teacher, he has never spoken of teaching with
anything approaching the passion with which he speaks about
shifting coyote populations and global climate change. He
understood my decision to join TFA as something temporary,
as he understood his own decision to teach. It was a job.
My father’s books and traps filled an entire room of our
western New York farmhouse. And my mother, who would
have, somehow, changed the American food system, had
dreams likewise subverted. The boxes of pamphlets and the
Rolodexes of contacts filled corners, the props of her many
failed attempts at self-employment. Our family of seven
moved together through their possessions and memories.
The weight of their unrealized dreams could have taught
me hopelessness. Instead, I had a way out from under that
weight: I went to school. The calm routines soothed me.
School became a refuge where I learned that the world was
mine and that I could dream my own dreams. The ideals of my
parents’ lives became less relevant as I was shown that life de-
cisions rest on a process of careful decisionmaking. You make
a chart, even: The good that will come from a decision on one
side, the bad on the other. You balance the two carefully and
you decide, assured that the choice you make is the right one
because you have the evidence of your chart to support it.
Which is why the hopelessness of New Orleans shocked me. conversation sitting on those steps that day in New Orleans al-
I do not mean that I had never heard of inequality or that I was tered my understanding of the world in ways that were slow to
unschooled in the Teach For America rhetoric of closing the take root. Like my father, I can no longer separate the teaching
achievement gap. I knew it so well that I could recite it in my profession from the narrative of unrealized dreams. Indeed,
sleep — which was likely part of the problem. I learned the talk- I cannot separate schools themselves from that narrative. I
ing points and the statistics, but I saw them as something else to have come to understand that the very function of schools is
discuss, to write about. Never something that I understood. dreaming, but I know now that it is not just my dreams on the
Only very slowly did I begin to see what my students were line. As my students prepare for unknown futures, I partici-
really up against. I thought I knew what it meant to have less. pate in countless narratives of unrealized dreams.
But their school was not the refuge from hopelessness that my My greatest hope now is that I will become a competent
own school had been. While this immersion into the harsh and, someday, excellent teacher of English, and that my
realities of inequality was little more than a stopover for me, it students will leave my classroom better equipped for the world
was life for this grandmother, for her grandchild, for so many than when they came in. I want them to be better readers,
people that were not born white and middle class, born with stronger writers, critical thinkers. Really, though, I want them
the questionable luxury of being ignorant of the structural to see life as full of opportunity. This is the important work
inequalities that are reality for so many people in our country. that I have been waiting for. Maybe dreams don’t have to
This grandmother saw education as a way out and I, as both be realized to be right. Maybe there isn’t, exactly, a way out.
a teacher and an unwitting representative of the dominant Whatever the case, I think that teaching is my way in.
culture, was to provide that way out.
So I left New Orleans eight years ago like I left other dif- — While she was at the Ed School Roanne Bosch worked in
ficult situations before it and after it: I panicked. I panicked an urban school in Boston that was similar to the one in New
at my lack of preparation, at the hopelessness of the situation Orleans: The paint was peeling and the textbooks had seen bet-
I found myself in. I opened the next doors: I went to graduate ter days. Today she teaches freshman English at Lexington High
school. I worked for a government agency. I traveled. But my School, just outside of Boston.
WHAT THEY KEEP
It started with a poster. Just before senior lecturer and former Richmond, Va.,
superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman, Ed.M.’92, Ed.D.’95, applied to the Ed
School to start her doctorate in the Urban Superintendents Program, she was
reading a magazine for principals and saw a poster with a young child stand-
ing on a shore looking across the water into the distance. The caption read: If all
children had a safe harbor, then none would be at risk.
She bought a copy and hung it in her office. From there, the lighthouse meta-
phor was born.
“I used the metaphor throughout my HGSE studies and during my superinten-
dency,” she says, “to signify that all who lead the learning must serve as beacons
to insure — by our collective wisdom, compassion, and action — that all students
under our watch are afforded a safe harbor from which to learn, develop, and
ultimately sail off to a bright and fulfilling future.”
In time, people started giving Jewell-Sherman lighthouse statues, which she
displayed at home, in her office in Richmond, and now in her Harvard office.
“They come in many forms and are gifts from teachers, administrators, stu-
dents, parents, and friends.” she says. “Each one serves to remind me of the
life-changing impact of the work we are called to do as educators.”
jill anderson
What They Keep looks at something found in a faculty member’s office and the
story behind it. Part of Jewell-Sherman’s collection
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 11
 the appian way
Cambodia, Home By Lory Hough
He owes his first name, and perhaps his life, to a German
journalist. It was late April 1975, two weeks after the Khmer
Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. Under
the order of Pol Pot, the city was being hastily evacuated.
Anyone who questioned the order, or begged to be left
behind, was shot, as were intellectuals, writers, and artists. In
time, the genocide claimed an estimated 1.7 million through
execution, starvation, and disease.
Peter Tan Keo’s mother, a translator for the American
Red Cross, was desperately trying to get out of her country.
Disguised as a Filipina, she quietly begged for a spot on a con-
voy filled with international journalists fleeing Cambodia for
Thailand. A German journalist named Peter gave up his seat
so that “my mom’s life could be spared,” says Keo, Ed.M.’07.
He says she counts her blessings every day.
Meanwhile, his father, a farm boy who won a scholarship
in 1974 to study in the United States, tried to return home to
help the country. During a brief stay in Paris while waiting
12 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
Skulls found in Phnom Penh, April 1981.
Authorities believe the victims were
tied together by rope — seen in this
photograph — before being executed.
ap photo/d.gray
for his visa, he met Peter’s mother, who had made it to France
and was working as a waitress. She, fortuitously, hid his
passport. His friends continued on to Cambodia without him.
After one postcard from Beijing, none were ever heard from
again. “She went on instinct alone, which saved my dad’s life,”
Keo says.
His parents eventually settled in the United States, first in
Philadelphia, then in Houston. The family never knew what
became of the journalist. But today, Keo is paying him back,
in a sense, by telling his own stories of Cambodia through
films and documentaries.
“Growing up, my dad spent virtually every day talk-
ing about the importance of reinvesting human capital to
rebuild the country,” Keo says. His parents also told their
children to “think big and dream bigger.” So with his brother
Paul, an actor and producer, he decided to start Stella Link
Entertainment, a production company that entertains while
also educating.
“It’s our firm belief that we can disseminate cold, hard facts
to a critical mass without boring them to tears or using esoter-
ic language often found in academic research and literature,”
he says, adding that documentaries have a proven track record
of success. “Think Michael Moore and all of his documenta-
ries and every single movie you’ve seen that starts with facts
and ends with a quote to change the world. That’s exactly what
our film, Children After the Killing Fields, aspires to achieve.
Our hope is that people will be moved to action.”
The film, which begins with an Adolf Hitler quote, “He
alone who owns the youth, gains the future,” focuses on an
American doctoral student struggling to rescue two young
girls from the sex trade. Keo wrote the screenplay and his
brother produced it. Hollywood casting director Geno
Havens helped with structure.
“I was frustrated by the lack of progress in Cambodia,” Keo
says. “What frustrated us most was the subjection of human
abuse of the worst form onto children. Young girls and boys
were being sold for a few dollars to brothels, pimps, and
mamasans. This wasn’t the Cambodia I remember hearing
about, and it certainly wasn’t what my parents remember
seeing. Something awful had changed.”
As they point out in the film, according to the U.S.
Department of State, an estimated 800,000 people worldwide
are trafficked across Cambodia every year for sexual exploita-
tion. About 80 percent are women; 50 percent are under the
age of 14.
Keo and his brother are hopeful that a studio will pick up
the film this year. (One deal was in the works but fell through
because of creative differences.) They are also working the
film festival circuit and hope to eventually show it at Cannes
and Sundance. They are also finishing two other documen-
taries, A Legacy of Hope, about a 30-year-old prostitute taken
in by the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center, and A Deadly
Harvest, which follows the world’s first all-female landmine
removal team working in Cambodia. With this last film, the
brothers, both fluent in Cambodian and French, helped with
translating. “That was half the battle,” Keo says.
Next Chapter
While work on the films continues, Keo has gone back to his
parents’ country to live and to focus on public policy. Most of
his extended family there is gone. Aside from his parents, no
one was able to flee Cambodia. Distant cousins were forced
into labor camps. Grandparents, uncles, and aunts were
executed by the Khmer Rouge. Yet Keo says his heart and soul
has always been deep within the country.
“I am nothing without an identity firmly attached to this
small Southeast Asian nation, mired between Thailand and
Vietnam,” he says. “My family and people have lost so much.
My entire life has been a constant struggle because of that
loss, but it’s also a blessing. I have a sense of self, a sense
of belonging.”
And he won’t really be alone. In April, he and Seng-Dao
Yang, Ed.M.’07, whom he met at the Ed School, got married
on the 35th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge invasion.
“I wanted to start a brand new chapter in my life without
constantly being reminded of this tormented past,” he says
of choosing that date. “Now my family and I can look back to
that day as one of the most blessed days of our lives, the day I
would marry my best friend, Seng-Dao.”
Both are now working for the University of Cambodia.
Keo, vice president for international cooperation, is helping to
build partnerships with other universities around the world.
He also teaches courses in education theory and international
politics. Yang is director of their foundation and will teach
courses on education theory and women’s leadership.
Keo is also advising the prime minister’s office. He is
developing policies to improve the country’s social, economic,
and political conditions and is making sure those policies
are translated into real, grassroots action. When it comes to
education, one area that he will focus on is how meeting basic
needs is a necessary first step before tackling an issue like the
achievement gap.
“In countries like Cambodia, the achievement gap is
exacerbated by a quality-of-life gap,” he says. “That is, many
Cambodians are struggling every day to make ends meet, and
many make less than a dollar a day. While access to high-
quality education is important, so too are basic necessities
like food, potable water, electricity, and shelter that many in
America take for granted, even those living in poverty. For
that reason, I decided to pack my bags and head off to the
place I’ve always called home: Cambodia. The time for action
is now.”
Go to www.stellalinkent.com to watch video clips of
Keo’s movies.
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 13
 the appian way
CAMPUS BRIEFS Solid Foundation Amy Magin Wong

Long’s Hat Trick
Appointed by President Obama.
Confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Announced by Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan. Not a
bad couple of weeks for Professor
Bridget Terry Long who, in late
June, joined three other educa-
tors as the newest members of
the National Board of Education
Sciences, a 15-member advi-
sory panel whose responsibilities
include reviewing and approv-
ing the research priorities of
In the very visible arena of public education reform, the
decisionmakers directly involved — parents, teachers, super-
intendents, and politicians — are all recognized as the drivers
when it comes to making change. But another group —
nonprofit foundations — also exerts influence on the process
and outcomes of reform efforts by supporting initiatives that
lead to specific changes in the system.
For example, the Boston Foundation played a significant
role in shaping Massachusetts’ recent education reform legisla-
tion, which will double the number of charter schools and
equip superintendents with a broad new authority to intervene
decisively in underperforming schools.
“We began supporting the charter schools eight to nine
years ago,” says Paul Grogan, Ed.M.’79, president of the
theme-based curriculums as part of the DC Catalyst Project.
Each school, which will fully implement its new format in fall
2010, is refocusing its strategic design and content delivery
by adopting one of three themes: STEM (science, technology,
engineering, math), arts integration, and world cultures.
The Meyer Foundation is backing the initiative by investing
in the DC Public Education Fund, an independent nonprofit
working directly with the schools to develop the catalyst
programs. Through the efforts of the fund, local nonprofit
organizations participate as strategic partners.
“The organization must have the operating capacity and
the internal infrastructure to partner with the public school
system,” says Danielle Reyes, Ed.M.’01, program officer
for the Meyer Foundation. “For example, the Washington

What’s In a Name?
The Risk and Prevention Program has
been renamed Prevention Science and
Practice (PSP)/Counseling C.A.S.
Although the curriculum and educational
experience of students will not change, the
new name, says program director Mandy
tanit sakakini
the Department of Education’s foundation, “when we developed the conviction that dramatic
Institute of Education Sciences. structural change was going to be necessary in Boston and
other urban public school systems in order to generate broad
improvement in the academic achievement of the mostly low-
Now This is the Story All About How My Life Got Flipped, Turned Upside Down income, minority students who populate these districts today.”
They say education can be disorienting. Recent Grogan believes that because the parent constituency of
graduate Jenny Schneider, Ed.M.’10, certainly inner-city schools is not politically powerful, foundations serve
thought so. To commemorate her time at the as necessary advocates for education reform, pushing for im-
Ed School — and the education process that turned her provements and using their influence and resources on behalf
life upside down — Schneider created “20 Headstands: A of these families. He also praises charter schools as educational
Year at Harvard.” The photo project saw Schneider doing head- entrepreneurs, free to reimagine what it might take for broad
Performing Arts Society, the Washington Institute for Dance,
and Lifepieces to Masterpieces all work directly with [public
schools in D.C.] to bring their own successful curriculums,
which weave some level of art — dance, choir, painting, or
musical instrument instruction — into the arts integration
schools’ curriculum.”
However, providing financial support is only part of the
Meyer Foundation’s involvement in local education reform ef-
forts. Like many other foundations, it also serves as a strategic
convener, organizing and hosting collaborations of nonprofits
and funders to coordinate these grant-making opportunities.

Laura Suval, Ed.m.’10

Savitz-Romer, better reflects the integrat-
ed nature of the program and its mission
to prepare graduates to improve the social,
emotional, and academic outcomes of
children and youth.
Guiding GoodWork
The GoodWork
Team at Project Zero
recently launched
a GoodWork
Toolkit website,
as well as Facebook and Twitter pages to
share information and build community
around encouraging excellent, ethical,
and engaging work. These web resources
offer discussion around relevant news
and research, regular blogs from faculty,
Project Zero staff, and others, plus ways
to connect with other scholars, practi-
tioners, and parents interested in good
work. Visit www.goodworktoolkit.org.
stands through the Harvard campus, including some particu- improvement to occur. Before these reform efforts even begin, foundations also
larly daring choices such as the median strip of Massachusetts “These schools allow educators — unencumbered by the generate awareness and enthusiasm. The Arizona Community
Ave. To view the photos, visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras. way things have always been done — to develop flexible, in- Foundation, along with other organizations and businesses,
novative approaches,” he says. The result, according to Boston pooled their resources to create Expect More Arizona, an
Foundation research, including work done in collaboration advocacy group designed to raise the public’s expectations for
Clinton Commissions Reimers Bay State Blues with Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Tom its public schools. Based on the premise that a strong education
Professor Fernando Reimers Though Massachusetts leads the na- Kane, shows that the charters are performing at a higher level system leads to the development of a more talented workforce
was appointed by U.S. tion on national standardized tests, new than the regular public schools with the same population. and vibrant economy, the group has tried to build public sup-
Secretary of State Hillary findings by Associate Professor Nonie Innovative school transformation also has earned the port and make public education the state’s top priority.
Clinton to serve on the U.S. Lesaux indicate that there is room for support of the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation in Steve Seleznow, Ed.M.’89, Ed.D.’94, president and CEO
National Commission for significant improvement. Her research Washington, D.C., where 13 public schools are converting to of the Arizona Community Foundation, explains, “Through
UNESCO. Reimers will act revealed that 43 percent of Massachusetts forums and public education campaigns, Expect More Arizona
as one of 30 representatives third-graders read below grade level, will help broaden the base of people who are interested in see-
to the commission, which which may lead to continued struggles in Because the parent constituency of inner- ing policies passed to improve education throughout the state.”
supports worldwide humani- high school and puts them at significant But initially, Seleznow acknowledges, it is the generosity of
tarian development and values risk of not graduating or contributing to
city schools is not politically powerful, donors with a genuine desire to improve education that makes
by coordinating efforts and the state’s knowledge-based economy.
foundations serve as necessary advocates reform possible.
“Our staff is constantly evaluating the best organizations
delivering expert advice from
the federal, state, and local for education reform, pushing for that are making a difference for children,” he says, “and we then
governments and from non- To learn more about help donors identify the best high-impact investments in edu-
governmental organizations these briefs, go to improvements and using their influence cation. From services such as tutoring, mentoring, and college
on issues of education, science, www.gse.harvard.edu/ readiness programs to larger efforts to fundamentally reform a
communications, and culture. ed/extras. and resources on behalf of these families. district — all is done through private foundations.”

14 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 15
 Thirty-five years ago, legislation mandated that public

C
schools had to provide a free, appropriate education for
all children, including the disabled. One alum born legally
blind shares his story as both a student and a teacher.

Able
N By lory hough

Photography by tanit sakakini

E
 T hey didn’t have to take him. When
David Ticchi’s parents approached
school administrators at the West
Bridgewater Elementary School about
enrolling their six-year-old son, the
visionary
other student. He says that if he got three wrong on a test, he
got three wrong. According to the National Association of
Special Education Teachers, this was unusual. At the time,
the few disabled students mainstreamed in public schools —
no matter what their disability, physical or learning — were
usually nudged toward manual work like bead stringing or
to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 saying it was against the law
for groups receiving federal funds to discriminate against
anyone “solely by reason of . . . handicap.” Known as Section
504, the wording in the provision “clearly was copied straight
out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ruled out discrimi-
nation in federal programs on the basis of race, color, or
weaving, not academics. national origin,” writes Shapiro in No Pity. Surprisingly, there
administrators legally could have said no. As a result, Ticchi got something from his public school were no hearings held on this provision and it received little
that every child deserves: a great education. fanfare — at least at first.
It was 1951, and there were no laws on the
It would be more than two decades before other disabled “Members of Congress were either unaware of it or consid-
books saying the town had to accept a blind students would legally get the same chance. ered it ‘little more than a platitude’ for a sympathetic group,’”
Shapiro writes, quoting sociologist Richard Scotch, who later
child — or any disabled child for that matter. studied the legislation. It didn’t take long, however, for politi-
By Law cians to realize the significance of what had just happened,
There was, of course, some resistance and concern. But Much of the credit goes to parents, at least initially. Around especially when the Department of Health, Education, and
his parents pushed, says Ticchi, Ed.M.’69, C.A.S.’71, Ed.D.’76, the time that Ticchi started school, a parents’ rights move- Welfare (HEW) estimated that compliance with the provision
in part because the only other option was to send him to the ment was starting to build in America, writes Joseph Shapiro would cost billions. When signing of the bill was delayed,
Perkins School for the Blind, located almost 40 miles to the in No Pity, his book about disabilities and civil rights. protests erupted, including a sit-in at the regional HEW office
north, just outside of Boston. “As more children survived disability, more parents sought in San Francisco that garnered national media coverage.
“I would have had to board there, which my parents didn’t to keep them from being institutionalized,” he writes. Parents Then in 1975, a second bill called the Education for All
want,” says Ticchi, who was born legally blind with limited vi- started key advocacy groups like the United Cerebral Palsy Handicapped Children Act (EHA), or Public Law 94-142, was
sion — he could see some light and vague shapes. His parents Association in 1948 and the Muscular Dystrophy Association enacted. Where Section 504 was broad, protecting postal work-
wanted their son at home, plus he was another helping hand in 1950. Parents also began lobbying Congress, which created ers and highway construction crews as well as students and
on their small farm. the Bureau of Education of the Handicapped in 1966. A few teachers, EHS was the first federal law that explicitly stated that
Their pushing worked: years later, the bureau started children with disabilities aged 5 to 21 were entitled to receive a
Ticchi enrolled that fall providing funds for the training free, appropriate education. (Eleven years later, an amendment
in the town’s four-room of special education teachers. expanded the legislation to cover children aged 0 to 5.)
schoolhouse. At times, he Other factors contributed Professor Judith Singer, in a 1985 piece in Education Week
admits, it was difficult. to the rise in rights for disabled marking the bill’s 10th anniversary, called it “a handicapped
Recorded lessons were students. By the late 1950s, for children’s Bill of Rights.” Shapiro says it was the disability
still in their infancy — example, Denmark was integrat- movement’s “equivalent of Brown v. Board of Education.”
reading David Copperfield ing students with disabilities into And Luke says it was this act (later renamed the Individuals
involved listening to 42 the broader community. “This with Disabilities Act, or IDEA) that made it clear that all
thick records, he says. He represented a significant shift in students mattered.
also didn’t learn Braille, societal attitudes toward people “This legislation really stands out as the game-changer
a language system of with disabilities,” says Stephen for children with disabilities,” he says. “Prior to 1975, chil-
raised dots, until he was Luke, Ed.D.’03, director of the dren with disabilities were commonly excluded from public
a teenager. (Someone had National Dissemination Center schools.” Many states even had laws prohibiting children with
convinced his parents for Children with Disabilities. disabilities from public schools, he says. “With the passage of
that it was passé, so he “The spirit of this approach soon EHA, public schools were now mandated to provide a ‘free
had to rely on teach- resonated across Europe and the and appropriate public education’ with the ultimate goal of
ers and other students United States.” Also critical, Luke preparing students for positive postsecondary outcomes such
to read to him during says, was the passage of several as employment or postsecondary education.”
elementary and middle landmark civil rights acts in the Several provisions in the law, which is celebrating its 35th
school.) Occasionally, kids United States during the 1960s, anniversary this year, were key, says Luke. One states that
would tease him. When which, while not specifically for education has to be provided in the “least restrictive environ-
he got older, he couldn’t the disabled, actually made it ment” — that is, in regular classrooms, as much as possible.
drive a car like the other Ticchi as a young baseball player illegal to discriminate against It was no longer enough for a school to isolate disabled
students. At dances it was certain groups. students in special ed classes or pay to have a disabled child
hard to get around. And then two pieces of educated elsewhere.
But something important also happened: Ticchi’s teach- legislation forever changed education and disability rights in Another provision also hugely expanded parental rights.
ers set the academic bar as high for him as they did for every America. The first was a provision that was quietly tacked on Parents got to see their children’s records, for example, and
18 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
became equal partners with the school staff in creating a
written blueprint for their child called an Individualized
Education Program, commonly referred to as an IEP. Included
in the IEP would be an extensive evaluation and a set of
measurable goals. Due process also allowed parents the right
to appeal any decision.
Advocates hailed the legislation, despite potential price tag
concerns. According to a 2000 policy paper by the Brookings
Institution, early supporters believed the number of students
requiring extensive, and expensive, special needs services
would be low and that “the financial impact on regular
education would be slight.” The law originally said the federal
government would pay schools’ excess special education costs
at 40 percent of the national average per pupil. The fiscal year
2011 budget called for funding at 17 percent.
Back in 1975, the country was in a recession and the fiscally
conservative President Gerald Ford made his ambivalence
about the bill clear during the signing ceremony.
“Unfortunately, this bill promises more than the federal
government can deliver, and its good intentions could be
thwarted by the many unwise provisions it contains,” Ford
said. “Even the strongest supporters of this measure know as
well as I that they are falsely raising the expectations of the
groups affected by claiming authorization levels which are
excessive and unrealistic.”
After the law was enacted, an estimated 1 million children
who previously had not been in school were enrolled.
Teacher, Teacher
By this time, David Ticchi was a grown man. He knew about
the legislation and supported it, of course: “To be able to
advocate for yourself, you have to have a knowing intellect,” he
says. “I’ve tried to pay attention.”
But he also knew from experience that getting legisla-
tion passed was one thing: The bigger hurdle was changing
attitudes. As Harvard Law School professor Martha Field said
at a disabilities panel discussion held at the Ed School in the
spring, “Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that once
the law is passed, it’s all right.”
Growing up, Ticchi never really thought of himself as dif-
ferent. “I’m a person and blindness is a characteristic,” he says.
“We’re all made up of certain characteristics, but it’s not all
of who I am.” And his parents expected as much from him as
they did his older sister, who is not blind.
“Growing up on the farm was a real blessing for me,”
Ticchi says. “Parents have expectations for any kid — keep
your room neat, set the table. Not only did I have to do those
things, but I was also expected to contribute on the farm.
Every day we had to feed the chickens, shovel manure, collect
the eggs. It made me feel good about myself that I was contrib-
uting, but also that I was competent.”
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 19

The farm also served as his first teacher.
“We had a thousand chickens and we counted the eggs
every day,” he says. There was even a blind chicken that he
coveted. “By the time I was in the first grade, I knew how to
add, subtract, and divide. I grew up in an environment where
my parents expected much of me and now I expect much
of myself.”
But when he was about to graduate from high school, he
got his first real inkling that not everyone had such high hopes
for him. Although his teachers had supported his intellect, a
counselor assigned to him by the Massachusetts Commission
for the Blind told him and his family that they could set
him up with a fruit stand in the subway in Boston as a solid,
lifelong profession.
“They never mentioned a word about college,” Ticchi says,
nor any other options. He ignored their advice and earned a
bachelor’s in economics cum laude from Holy Cross College
in Worcester, Mass. — a real feat, says his close friend and
dormmate, Chris Matthews. “Holy Cross was a tough school,”
says the host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, who
would read textbooks to Ticchi. “There was no grade infla-
tion. You had to work for your grades.” At Harvard, Ticchi
earned both a master’s and a doctorate from the Ed School
20 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
visionary
and on December 17, 1969 — he still recalls the date by
heart — he became one of the first certified teachers in
Massachusetts who was blind.
But again, even those huge accomplishments weren’t
enough when he started applying for teaching slots. He
was blind. No one wanted to take a chance on him.
“I don’t know how many resumes I sent out. And
it wasn’t as easy as it is now,” he says. “Back then, you
had to type out every envelope, make copies, put on
the stamps. . . . ”
When he applied for jobs, he didn’t, of course, say
in his cover letters that he was blind. And by then it
was illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to
discriminate in hiring on the basis of blindness.
“I knew in many cases that they’d be surprised
by the white cane,” he says. He could usually tell by
actions if the interviewer was interested or not: If he or
she leaned forward during the discussion, something
Ticchi could sense, it was a good sign. If the door to the
office remained open after Ticchi sat down, it wasn’t. “I
also knew that if the subject of blindness didn’t come
up, I wouldn’t be considered for the job. It’s normal to
have questions.”
Eventually, in 1971 — almost two years after he
became certified — one principal gave him his chance.
Van Seasholes, head of Day Junior High School in
Newton, Mass., knew Ticchi from his time student
teaching at the school. Seasholes never doubted Ticchi
could do the job, even when his superiors questioned
the hire.
“That’s how a good system works,” says Seasholes, now
semiretired. “You have confidence in the people that are there.
I knew Dave would figure out a way. Education has missed a
lot of that — having confidence in people.”
And Ticchi did figure it out. He had students write on the
blackboard. A personal reader would help him grade papers
and tests. He earned the respect of the students.
“Kids have to respect a teacher,” he says. “And you don’t
have to have 20/20 vision to be respected.” Today, nearly four
decades after he first started teaching, he says people still ask
if his students cheated. “Oh sure,” he says, but he’s convinced
that some kids would have cheated no matter how acute the
teacher’s vision. “Cheating was alive and well long before
there were blind teachers.” Over time, he created a classroom
culture based on the honor system that worked. “To this day,
when I meet former students, they still talk about this.”
After six years at the school, Ticchi took a 10-year hiatus
from teaching to work for a subsidiary of Xerox. The company
had just come out with an optical scan system that digitized
data and turned it into speech, primarily for the blind, but also
for others with disabilities. The inventor, Raymond Kurzweil,
lived in Newton at the time and recruited Ticchi.
Eventually he missed the students and returned to the
classroom, this time to Newton North High School, one of the
city’s two high schools, where he now runs their alternative
school-to-career program. Jim Marini, the person who hired
Ticchi for the program, says that some staff had initial con-
cerns that troubled students would try to take advantage of a
low. During a voice-over, Ticchi explains that this is critical for
him to know what’s going on in the classroom.
The 1977 documentary is called A Blind Teacher in a Public
School and was part of Ticchi’s Ed School doctoral thesis. It
was his personal contribution, he writes in the thesis, “to the
struggle for enlightenment in the area of the blind as public
teacher who is blind. But, as he predicted, “The students loved school teachers of the sighted.” It ran on PBS. For years after,
him,” says Marini, now interim superintendent of Newton people still recognized him on the street.
Public Schools. “Kids really recognized that David wasn’t a His interest in highlighting the way life really is for some-
blind person. He was a person of substance.” one with a disability was the reason he also made a second
It was one example, says Ticchi, of adults — not the documentary, Out of Sight, with noted filmmaker David
students — questioning his ability to teach effectively. He Sutherland in 1993 that focused on a feisty horse trainer who
remembers another, earlier experience when Seasholes asked is blind and was once referred to as a “bad girl Huck Finn.”
him into his office. A parent had called with concerns about Ticchi says, “Legislation is important, but what it comes
her son having a blind teacher. Seasholes backed him up, down to is changing attitudes. I wanted to make a film that
telling the parent that he had 100 percent confidence in Ticchi might be shown on TV that showed that blind people are
or he wouldn’t have hired him. He also told her that her son regular people. We’re not superhuman or subhuman. We’re
would probably have an experience he’d never forget. really not. If we are one of those, it’s not because we’re blind;
“I felt we were lucky to have him,” Seasholes says. “I would it’s because of something else.”
never have jeopardized the kids. I hired another blind teacher Professor Tom Hehir spends a lot of time in the courses
later at Newton South High School but had to let him go. He he teaches at the Ed School talking about these images —
didn’t have it with the kids. Dave always did.” the superhuman and the subhuman. Both are harmful for
When talking about this time in his life and career, Ticchi, those with disabilities, says Hehir, who was director of the
who also oversees the ethics program as a special assistant to U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education
the president of the Legal Sea Foods Corporation, gets misty. Programs and played a leading role in developing the Clinton
“When someone is behind you like that, you’d run through a administration’s proposal for the 1997 reauthorization of IDEA.
wall for them,” he says, “with or without a helmet.” Referred to as “ableism,” this form of discrimination
devalues disabilities, Hehir writes in Special Education for a
New Century. Whether the image is of a frail, pitied person in
Value Added leg braces (think poster child for a telethon) or of the inspi-
The scene opens with a 32-year-old Ticchi briskly walking rational disabled person (think quadriplegic who summits
down a tree-lined street wearing a scally cap and a thick, dark Kilimanjaro), there’s a failure to accept and value disabled
moustache, a red duffle bag in one hand, a white cane in the people as they are.
other. At the entrance to
the school, he opens the
door for another teacher.
In the next scene, Ticchi
is in the classroom taking
attendance. Walking
around, he calls out
names: Allan is here?
Rodney? Julie, Ronnie,
and Eric. Where are
Sherry and Donna? Is
Julie getting her books?
He is relying on the
students to participate,
which they do. Other
than Donna getting up
to use the stapler, all of
the students are in their
seats. The noise level is
 Matt Underwood, Ed.M.’04, principal of the Atlanta
Charter Middle School in Atlanta, Ga., who took courses
with Hehir, says that in order to avoid ableism, the mindset
in their school is that that everyone has learning differences.
For this reason, every student — not just the disabled — has a
“personalized learning plan” similar to an IEP.
“This helps to lessen the stigma sometimes attached to
these sorts of supports because we make it clear that every-
one needs help with something,” he says.
Hehir says that ableism in schools also takes time away
from actual learning. When Ticchi was first learning to read
and write, he did it the same way the other students were
learning, despite the fact that is was a hard process. (He had
to use large-sized print and a big magnifying glass.) of very detailed regulations, she said, individual states and
“I’d get very close, so it was really slow going,” he says.
Taking notes in class was extremely tedious. “If there was
anything I would change, it would be that I learned Braille
earlier. It’s critical. There’s a crisis today in Braille literacy.
There’s a shortage of teachers and a misconception that
technology will replace it.” Many blind students today rely on
MP3 players, audiobooks, and computer software. According
to a report released last year by the National Federation of the
Blind, about half of all blind children learned Braille in the
1950s compared with 10 percent today.
Ticchi points to current employment rates for the blind as
good reason to utilize all methods of learning — technology
and Braille.
“The unemployment rate is about 70 percent for blind
people. It’s outrageously high,” he says. “Of the remaining
30 percent who are employed, nearly 90 percent are Braille
readers.”
A similar struggle has been brewing for years within
the deaf community. Instead of learning American Sign
Language (ASL), many children who are deaf or hard of
hearing are encouraged primarily to use the language of the
dominant culture by learning to read lips and speak or to “fix”
their inability to hear by having a cochlear implant surgically
installed, which provides a sense of sound. Unfortunately, as
Shapiro writes, “even in the best of circumstances, only 30
percent of speech can be read from lip movements.”
Which is exactly why Jeremiah Ford, C.A.S.’91, principal
at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing,
a public school in Boston, makes sure that all of his students
know and use sign language. Not only is it the language of the
deaf, but also, as he’s seen many times since he started at the
school in 2004, technology fails.
“We had a young woman whose implant was damaged
recently,” Ford says. “It had to go out for repair and she was
totally deaf. So she signed. It was advantageous that she could
do that.” Even when parents express a strong interest in hav-
ing their children learn orally, he points out the plus-sides to
knowing ASL as well.
22 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
visionary
“Parents have a strong opinion on how they want their
child to be educated,” he says. “My job is to bring the value of
the deaf cultural experience, the value of ASL, regardless of
whether you are being taught orally as well. It’s powerful to
be multilingual.”
Changes in the Law
As with just about any legislation, amendments were added over the years to the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Some of the key changes included:
Good IDEA
Thirty-five years after the Education for All Handicapped 1986 amendments (P.L.99-457)
Children bill was enacted, stories are still being written in the • Extended the coverage to children ages 0–5
press asking the question: Is it working? As Singer noted in • Established an early intervention program for infants and toddlers, 0–2
her Education Week commentary, “Yes, P.L 94-142 is work-
ing across the country — but not uniformly.” In the absence 1990 amendments (P.L.101-476)
• Renamed the law: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
districts have followed their own guidelines over the years. • Replaced the phrase “handicapped child” with “child with a disability”
“Differences are found in almost all provisions of the law: who • Provided transition services for students
is identified, how they are evaluated, where they are placed, • Extended services to children with autism and traumatic brain injury
and which services are received.” • Extended the “least restrictive environment” component of the original legislation;
But, as Singer also noted, this kind of “research perspec- disabled children are required to learn in classes with children without disabilities,
tive” may not be the best vantage point to evaluate whether to the maximum extent possible
or not the legislation is working. Perhaps the stories of real
people like Amanda Grant, Ed.M.’10, are what matter most.
1997 amendments (P.L.105-17)
• Required students with disabilities to be included in state and districtwide testing,
Diagnosed in second grade with a learning disability, Grant
with accommodations when necessary
says she was supported in her public schools in Massachusetts
• Extended services to children with attention deficit disorder and attention deficit
and Kentucky and feels the legislation helped her get the
hyperactivity disorder
accommodations she needed as both a student and later as a
• Stated that assessments must be done in the language used by the child
teacher. Now she wants to take the legislation a step further.
• Added that parents must be given progress reports at least as often as parents are
“I taught for two years in Tanzania at a school for children
informed of progress for children without disabilities
with disabilities. There were no laws to help them. It’s all
grassroots,” she says. “I’m looking at how laws like Section
2004 amendments (P.L.108-446)
504 and IDEA can be moved outward and can help children
• Expanded educational requirements for special education teachers: must now have
all over the world who have disabilities.”
a state special education certification or license and a bachelor’s degree
And of course, there’s the story of David Ticchi. Although • Expanded the rights of homeless, highly mobile, and foster children with disabilities
his little four-room schoolhouse in West Bridgewater is gone, • Transferred burden of proof to parents, from the school district, in showing that
replaced by a more modern brick building, the legacy of what disciplinary behavior was caused by (or had a direct relationship to) the disability
a quality public education offered him is clear, as shown in a
letter written in 1973 by one of his junior high students to a
superintendent in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in support of a teacher
who lost his vision and then his job:
“Maybe if we give people a chance, they just might jump
out and shock us. Never after seven years of elementary
school have I ever had the most respect for a teacher. I do
admit I liked all my teachers and tried to be a good student,
but never did I test myself for loyalty and truth as I do this
year. Most of the people that got Mr. Ticchi, our English
teacher, who is blind, thought how easy it would be to chew
gum, sneak in when you’re late for class, etc. But they soon
found out they always got caught. We soon grew to know and
istockphoto.com/mbphoto
to respect Mr. Ticchi as a teacher and a human being.” Ed.
To watch a video interview with David Ticchi, go to
www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras.
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 23
Long Way to
Go
More than two decades after the first
gay-straight alliance was started in a
school, has much changed for students
when it comes to gay rights?

By Judah Leblang

illustrations by sandra dionisi

 W
hen I was asked to write about the state of
the schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) youth today, I jumped at
the opportunity. After all, I’m a former teacher
and student myself, who struggled through high school east
of Cleveland, Ohio, in the mid-1970s, and then taught deaf
high school students in Columbus in the 1980s. In 1985–86,
when I finally came out (to myself), and began to date other
men, I was terrified of being discovered — and rejected — by
my fellow teachers, some of whom were my friends. I left
teaching after that year, moved to Boston, and went back to
graduate school. In the 1990s, I briefly taught in two sub-
urban districts south and west of Boston. In one of those
schools, I came out to the staff during my first week. In the
other, I remained fully closeted, afraid of clashing with my
conservative Christian colleagues.
My teaching career ended before Ellen’s historic kiss on
primetime TV, before Will and Grace, before same-sex mar-
riage, and the rise of gay-straight alliances. How, I wondered
now, have things changed?
As I explored the topic, talking to teachers, former teach-
ers, and other educators from Massachusetts to Illinois to
California, I learned that simple answers are elusive; it was
like trying to photograph a speeding train. Yes, things are
changing and in some cases getting better, as society becomes
more tolerant, they said. For example, I recently learned that
my public high school back in Beachwood, Ohio, has a gay-
straight alliance (GSA), and according to a former classmate
who is now a teacher’s aide at the school, “kids are just more
accepting today,” noting that her teenage daughter has several
“out” gay friends. And in the states that have same-sex mar-
riage, teachers can “come out” to their students in develop-
mentally appropriate ways by mentioning their partners, as
one of my friends did in a second-grade class that was working
on writing their life stories.
And yet, most, if not all, public schools remain fundamen-
tally unsafe for LGBT students. The most progressive schools,
many of which are located in Massachusetts, are marked by
administrators, teachers, and staff who are trying to “do the
Byrne, who is in his late 20s and grew up in the Boston
area, has been active in providing support for LGBT youth
since college. Before arriving in Cambridge, he helped estab-
lish approximately 50 gay-straight alliances in communities
all around Massachusetts, along with a few in neighboring
states. According to Byrne, and several other activists, many
administrators are initially resistant to establishing GSAs,
even though the Massachusetts Department of Elementary
and Secondary Education has encouraged them ever since
1993, when the department (then called the State Board of
Education) recommended the establishment of GSAs across
the state as one means of providing a supportive environment
for LGBT students. (That same year, Massachusetts Governor
William Weld passed a bill that made the state the first in
the country to outlaw discrimination against gay and lesbian
students in public schools.)
And so, even in liberal-leaning schools and towns, com-
ing out in high school can be difficult. Even in progressive
Cambridge, homophobia is evident. While saying “fag” is con-
sidered uncool among most students, “that’s so gay” (meaning
lame or stupid) is a common expression.
Byrne believes some gay and lesbian students don’t want
to “tempt fate” by being too visible at the high school. What than for their straight counterparts.) GLSEN’s 2007 survey But even putting politeness aside, Cornelius says things
happens, he wonders, when students are beyond the reach shows that 91 percent of gay students have heard “gay” used in are changing in Mississippi. Though the school does not
of supportive teachers and administrators. “What happens a negative way, and 59 percent of LGBT middle-schoolers have have a GSA or provide any formal support to gay and lesbian
on Facebook? Texting?” he says. He and other educators are experienced physical harassment; 43 percent of LGBT high students, Cornelius feels that students know whom they can
concerned about students whom “we’re not reaching, some of school students have also been harassed. talk to; she cited the drama teacher and the Spanish teacher
whom are openly gay.” Clearly, teachers and school staff need more training to as other allies at the school. Some boys and girls in her
I also interviewed Arthur Lipkin, Ed.M.’76, chair of the address the harassment, yet funding is often an issue. In school are out to a few people; she knows of students who are
Massachusetts Commission of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Massachusetts, for example, the Safe Schools Program has out to their mothers but not to their fathers. In addition, sev-
Transgender Youth, and a former teacher at Rindge. Lipkin, been cut significantly. Currently, there is no state money set eral former students have come out as gay or lesbian at Ole
who came out in the early 1980s after teaching for almost aside for student programming or for teacher training on deal- Miss, the University of Mississippi, which is also located in
15 years, stresses the range of experiences a student can ing with homophobia and antigay harassment. Oxford. One visited Cornelius and gave her an “ally” sticker
have within the same school or district. “Even at schools As a result, educators both within and beyond to post on her bulletin board, explaining that her classroom
where some [students and teachers] are out and setting good Massachusetts explained that while teachers usually want is a safe space for LGBT kids. (No one has asked her to take
examples, you could be living in the 1950s,” he says. He and to do the right thing, they are often unsure of what to do. the sticker down.)
Byrne emphasize the additional challenges faced by LGBT When they hear homophobic epithets, they often ignore the After hearing from educators in Massachusetts,
students of color who often deal with issues of racism and who behavior, for example. If this much work needs to be done in Mississippi, and my old classmate in Ohio, I took a brief
may not feel safe enough or ready to come out until there is a Massachusetts, what, I wondered, was the situation like in snapshot of other states, including Maine, California, Illinois,

right thing” and to support their gay and lesbian students. But
in many other schools, in New England and throughout the
nation, the atmosphere for gay youth may not be much differ-
ent, or much better, than it was for boys and girls like me back
in the 1970s.
I started my interviews close to home, in a city known
as the epicenter of liberalism, with Ed Byrne, the current
diversity programs coordinator at Cambridge Rindge & Latin
High School, just around the corner from Harvard. Sitting
in Byrne’s office, I noticed the school’s mission statement on
the wall, which read in part, “We maintain a nurturing, safe
environment for every student.”
“critical mass of kids of color” in their schools.
In his role as chair of the Massachusetts Commission,
Lipkin visits schools around the state. Currently, about
two-thirds of Massachusetts high schools have GSAs, but
that alone is not enough to create a sense of safety and
inclusion for gay youth. According to two major surveys, the
Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey and GLSEN’s
(the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) National
School Climate Survey, LGBT students are much more likely
to experience verbal and physical harassment, and attempt
suicide, than their straight peers. (The rate of “suicidality” is
almost five times higher for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students
I
other parts of the nation?
continued my search at the opposite end of the politi-
cal spectrum from Cambridge, with Virginia Cornelius,
Ed.M.’96, a high school teacher in Oxford, Miss. Cornelius,
who grew up in New York City. After 10 years of teaching
at her high school, she finds her students very polite, with
strong respect for authority. Therefore, she would be unlikely
to hear anti-gay epithets, particularly when her students
know she is “liberal.”
Pennsylvania, and New York.
Betsy Parsons, C.A.S.’82, is cochair of the GLSEN chapter
in Southern Maine and cocoordinator of the state’s GSAs.
Parsons has taught for most of the past 30 years at two
Portland-area high schools, and has seen both progress and
the need for more education and support for LGBT students.
“We have a long way to go,” she explains. “This is an equal
opportunity issue — an entire population whose education is
being jeopardized. [We need to] see it as a social justice issue
rather than addressing the problems after they happen. We
can get to the root of the problem by providing fairer access to
a public education.”

26 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 27

For Parsons, the turning point came after she had
returned to teaching in the mid-’90s, after several
years of graduate study at Harvard. One of her former
students, a young woman who had recently graduated
from college, returned and told Parsons she was a les-
bian. As a ninth-grader, she had contemplated suicide
and saw no future for herself.
“She told me she felt like the only lesbian in the
whole world,” says Parsons. When Parsons asked what
she could have done to ease the girl’s struggle, the young
woman listed some helpful steps Parsons had taken
and then said, “You could have been fully out.” That
“moment of truth” led Parsons to become one of the
first “out” teachers in the state, and to establish only the
second GSA in Maine at her high school. (Nationally,
the number of GSAs has increased dramatically, from
only a handful in 1990 to about 4,000 today.)
Parsons cites three key factors in creating safe
schools for all youth: supportive faculty and staff,
which includes both “out” LGBT teachers and straight
allies; the establishment of GSAs, which allow students
to educate their peers in creative ways; and having poli-
cies which promote inclusion and nondiscrimination,
such as Maine’s gay rights law — which took 28 years
to pass, finally becoming law in 2005.
Unfortunately, not all students attend schools
where this kind of safe culture is created. According
to GLSEN’s national survey, 50 percent of gay middle-
schoolers had missed at least a day of school in the past
month due to safety concerns.
In Maine, Parsons explains, “I’m still looking at the
two-thirds of Maine schools that don’t have a GSA. Where
are those kids looking for a sense of safety in school? … There’s behavior (especially for boys) at the school, were everywhere.
a danger of people getting too complacent, but we still have a
lot of kids in dire trouble.”
CJ Pascoe, a professor at Colorado State University,
spent more than a year observing boys in a high school in
California’s Central Valley, a conservative district some of the
locals describe as “right out of Iowa.” In her book, Dude, You’re as outside the norm of traditional notions of gender are tar-
a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, Pascoe de-
scribes the way boys “police” expressions of masculinity. One
way of ensuring membership in the club of “normal boys” was
to harass others for behavior that was seen as feminine, such
as being emotional, smiling too much, caring about cloth-
ing, dancing (for white boys), or being incompetent. Though
California has a broad law protecting LGBT students, teas-
ing, use of the word “fag,” and other epithets were the norm
rather than the exception at River High School (a pseudonym). of those Russian matryoshka dolls, lost in a world of adoles-
Within the school, teachers usually ignored these behaviors,
resulting in a hostile environment for gay and lesbian students. wrapped in another and another. Still, committed teachers are
Initially, Pascoe had not planned to focus on homophobia, but
28 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
Climate:
English teacher near Philadelphia in the late 1990s. After being
fully “out” in college, Berger found herself briefly back in the
Cloudy with a Chance of Support closet, working in a school where students routinely used
words like “fag” and the omnipresent “that’s so gay.” As a first-
For more than a decade, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education year teacher, she challenged her students to think about what
Network (GLSEN) has conducted a biannual national climate they were saying and promoted a respectful environment even
survey to document the experience of LGBT students in America. while she avoided lecturing them on the topic. Meanwhile, a
Here is a sampling of what they found in their latest survey. group of students wanted to start a GSA, but the administra-
tion claimed there were no gay students in the school.
90.2% of students heard “gay” Students who said they felt they Berger helped the students track all the homophobic and
used in a negative way often or had six or more supportive staff transphobic epithets they heard over the course of a week, and
frequently at school. More than members had higher GPAs than gave that list to school administrators. Eventually, a GSA was
83% felt distressed by this. students without (2.9 versus 2.5). established; today, the school principal says that he would not
operate a school without a gay-straight alliance.
In her second year at the school, Berger came out. As she
32.7% of LGBT students missed 10.5% of students reported
explains, “I was out to a handful of kids [before] but then I
a day of school because of feeling being exposed in their classes to
came out in a more public way. I knew I was leaving to go to
unsafe, compared with 4.5% of positive representations of LGBT
graduate school. I also knew there were 38 states where I could
a national sample of secondary people, history, or events.
be fired with no protection [for being gay].” (Note: Today there
school students. are 20 states that provide protection for gays and lesbians; 12
provide protection based on gender expression.)
97.4% of students in a school In schools with comprehensive Like Parsons, she points out both the importance of being
with a GSA said they could identify anti-harassment policies, 29.1% “out” — and the risks that step entails for gay and lesbian
one or more supportive staff, com- of students reported that school educators who love their profession, and who are still not
pared with 73.8% of students in staff intervened most or all of the protected by antidiscrimination laws in most states. (It is
schools without GSAs. As of 2010, time when hearing homophobic relatively easy for administrators to dismiss nontenured
4,000 GSAs were registered with language, compared with 17.5% teachers, without overtly citing their sexual orientation).
GLSEN. There are more than 98,000 in schools with generic policies Since graduating from the Ed School in 2001, Berger has held
public schools in the country. and 13.1% with no policies. a number of social service positions working with LGBT
teens. Like other educators I interviewed, she stresses the
importance of training staff (not only teachers) to create a
the rigid gender norms, and the narrow range of acceptable supportive environment for all families, from the first point
of contact with a receptionist to the lunchroom monitors to
Among those boys, “fag” was the worst thing one could be teachers and administrators.
called; one boy told the author, “It’s like you’re nothing.” Another advocate, Sojn Boothroyd, Ed.M.’10, has worked as
The harassment at River High reflected another theme an arts educator in schools in the Northwest and Midwest. In
related by teachers around the country — that gender roles Chicago, Boothroyd found that schools varied widely in terms
and sexuality are tied together, and students who are viewed of creating supportive environments for LGBT youth.
“One school could be totally different than another in
geted for harassment. One of the four “out” boys at the school terms of homophobia,” she says. “One school had hate-free
sometimes wore skirts and was one of the star dancers (and zone signs up, a strong GSA, and lots of out youth. You walked
the only boy) on the jazz dance team. He was teased merci- in and knew this was a school that supported their queer
lessly and eventually dropped out of school. Pascoe reports youth, and at the next school there was nothing like that and
that the three other boys, who were physically more imposing no youth were out. [The latter was] an all-boys school, and
and typically masculine in their behavior, generally avoided teachers used homophobic slurs. That plays into the [attitudes]
antigay harassment. of the leadership of the school and their stance.”
As my research continued, I felt like I had unearthed one Ultimately, creating a truly welcoming space for LGBT stu-
dents may depend on reaching youth before high school, dur-
cent sexuality, gender roles, and societal norms — one issue ing the primary and middle school years, as Sobrique “Sorby”
Grant did. A student at the Harvard Kennedy School who
making progress. Colby Berger, Ed.M.’01, was a high school spoke at a recent Ed School discussion about homophobia in
schools, Grant was heavily involved with LGBT activism dur-
ing her undergraduate years. In the early 2000s, she joined the
Teach For America program and hoped to work with a GSA
in a New York City high school. To her surprise, she ended up
teaching fourth-graders in the Bronx. She describes her school
as “not particularly progressive,” but within her classroom, she
made a concerted effort to touch on gay and lesbian topics in a
developmentally appropriate way. Students read a book called
And Tango Makes Three about two male penguins who find an
abandoned egg and eventually coparent the resulting penguin
chick, which promoted discussion in her classroom about all
types of families. Grant says it became clear that her students
“got it” — that they understood what it meant to respect
everyone — after a subsequent experience in gym class.
One day her students returned to the classroom from
gym class, strangely quiet. They explained that one of their
classmates had been taunted by the gym teacher for running
too slow. The teacher asked the boy if he was gay and said he
was acting “like a sissy.” The next day, the children confronted
the gym teacher and told him that he treated their classmate
unfairly and hurt his feelings. The teacher apologized, and
Grant’s students learned a valuable lesson.
After her work in the New York City public schools, Grant
worked with homeless LGBT teens in the city. Many had
dropped out of school because of the relentless bullying they
had experienced, and most had been kicked out by their par-
ents, often because of their sexual orientation. Grant sums up
the atmosphere in New York: “Children are only as progres-
sive as their parents and teachers … and a lot of teachers have
inherent homophobia, and that transfers to students.”
Today, in our rapidly changing era of same-sex marriage;
the (promised) end of the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy;
and visible gay politicians, actors, and athletes, more gay and
lesbian teachers are opening up about their lives, and teach-
ers, both straight and gay, are bringing LGBT people into the
mainstream. But many teachers and administrators remain
hesitant to address gay, lesbian, and transgender issues, since
they are loath to discuss sexuality in any form, afraid of the
backlash from conservative parents and community members.
Thinking back to the boy I was 35 years ago, afraid of my
own sexuality, with no one to talk to in my suburban Ohio
high school, I’m encouraged by the progress that has been
made, and chastened by the work that remains to be done. At
this point in 2010, we remain far from the ultimate goal of all
teachers of goodwill: to create schools that are truly safe and
welcoming for everyone, including LGBT students.
— Judah Leblang writes a column for Bay Windows, Boston’s
gay newspaper, and recently published his first book, Finding
My Place: One Man’s Journey from Cleveland to Boston and
Beyond. This is his first piece in Ed. magazine. Ed.
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 29
Modern
Age
They have less experience but more
responsibility. They’re often younger than
their entire staff. How a new generation
of younger principals is handling the job.

by josh moss

illustrations by Michael klein

 M
aternity leave is over. On this mid-
May Thursday morning, just seven days until
students go on summer vacation, Jessica
Rosenthal, Ed.M.’08, has her hands full inside Hawthorne
Elementary, the Louisville, Ky., school where she’s wrapping
up her first year as a principal after teaching English for four
years in Nashville, Tenn. The one-story school’s neighbor-
hood, with homes that have manicured front lawns, is less
than a mile from the house where Rosenthal and her hus-
band live. It’s the 28-year-old’s second day back since taking
more than a month off to care for her infant son, Neil, now
7 weeks old, and she arrived at 8 this morning. She has been
going nonstop ever since, spending as little time as possible
in her tidy office with a few crayon-colored pictures on the
wall. “It feels weird to be in there with all that’s happening
around me,” she says.
There’s the boy who got a referral for biting another
student, a committee she needs to advise about purchas-
ing textbooks, and two positions she needs to fill for the
2010–11 school year. The PTA president has a question
about a year-end picnic. Rosenthal has 31 pages of e-mails to
back up before the school’s new system kicks in, and is also
considering leading an afterschool program to train girls to
run a 5K. She also needs to go into every single classroom
to observe teachers and take digital notes on her tablet
computer, something she tries to do daily. Not to mention
that at 1:30 p.m., her mother, in from Tennessee to help with
childcare until summer, will bring Neil to Hawthorne for
a feeding. (Striking a balance between work and family has
been challenging. At home, Rosenthal sometimes types an
e-mail with one hand while using the other to hold her son.)
“Everything comes to a halt until I make a decision,” she
says. “Everything falls on my plate.”
The students in the hallway are having trouble staying in
a line, which is something Rosenthal plans to fix next year
by making them stand in alphabetical order while alternat-
ing the leader to be fair. But that’s for another day because
right now a kindergarten boy in a navy blue polo shirt is
bursting with energy in the hallway, hopping from one foot
to the other as if the janitor-polished floor is scalding his
feet. During art class, a teacher kicked out him and two
other students — whom Rosenthal will have to deal with,
too — for fighting. This late into the school year, the teach-
ers seem fed up with the troublemakers. “Everybody is at
the end of their rope,” Rosenthal says. “I have a little more
patience because I was out for so long.”
She is tall and bends over at the waist to whisper into
the child’s ear, a strategy she uses often. “Your choices
are to stay in your class or go to Ms. Wilson’s class,” says
Rosenthal, holding the boy’s hand.
“I don’t want to go to anybody’s class,” he replies.
Temporarily, Rosenthal puts the boy in a room with
32 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
fourth-graders, tells him to work on some subtraction math
problems. Then she’s on to the next task. Always a next task.
“I don’t think anybody can come into this job prepared,”
she says, despite last year serving an internship with two
Louisville principals. “Until you’re in the position and you
are really the authority, you can’t know what it’s like. I
honestly don’t think more years in the classroom would have
made this job any easier.”
The trend over the last five to eight years, says Vick
Flanary with the National Association of Secondary School
Principals, has seen educators enter principalships with
fewer years of experience than what has traditionally been
expected. “If I talked to a group of principals 10 years ago,
it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to say, ‘I spent 10, 15, 20
years in the classroom — or as a counselor or an assistant
principal — before taking a principal job. Today the incuba-
tion period is as short as it has ever been,” says Flanary, who
was a middle school principal for 12 years in a Washington,
D.C., suburb. And the job, he adds, has changed.
“Responsibility has increased, expectations are much
greater, and accountability has grown exponentially. There’s
so much more scrutiny with how your school is perform-
ing,” he says. “The demands have created a pool of principal
candidates that is shallower than it has ever been, which
leads to the hiring of younger principals. As you look at the
profession overall, I do have concern with our shortening
the path to the job.”
Joseph Shivers, Ed.M.’85, Ed.D.’89, is 62 years old. He
graduated from Salem High School in Salem, Ohio, and has
been the school’s principal for the past four years. It is his
sixth principalship. The first one came in Kirtland, Ohio,
in 1989. That was after 12 years teaching at a parochial
school, a charter school, and a school in South Korea, to
name a few, plus administrative positions with the Diocesan
Department of Education of Columbus, Ohio, in the early
1980s. At Salem, he was director of curriculum and testing
before becoming principal.
“I don’t know that youth is an insurmountable obstacle or
impediment, but one has to have really great judgment to do
this job. For me, that’s been a slower process. It seems that
each year I’ve learned more about improving my judgment,”
Shivers says. “Each week, each month, each year I spent in
the classroom framed what I do as principal. After 18 years,
any problem that arises is a variation of something I’ve seen.”
I
t’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and Filip
Hristic has prepared a breakfast for his staff: eggs and
bacon, fruit salad for the health-conscious, bagels and
cream cheese as a nod to his East Coast roots. The 32-year-
old Hristic, Ed.M.’07, is wrapping up his third year as
principal of Newberg High School’s Yellow School, one of
“
Until you’re in the
position and you are
really the authority,
you can’t know what
it’s like. I honestly
don’t think more
years in the classroom
would have made this
job any easier.”
— Jessica Rosenthal, Ed.M.’08
four small schools that have 400 students or so in Newberg,
Ore. “It can be a little bit daunting to sit in front of a staff of
25 and realize most of them are as old as your parents — if
not older — and think of yourself as their boss,” he says.
Hristic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, came to the states
in seventh grade, and went through high school in New
Jersey. After studying teacher training at Boston College,
Hristic spent a few years teaching in Massachusetts, first at
an alternative high school for “behaviorally and emotionally
challenged students, but also students so bright and brilliant
they were bored out of their minds in a traditional setting,”
he says. They went on what Hristic calls “real-life expedi-
tions,” such as traveling to Mexico to examine environ-
mental and political issues on the U.S.-Mexico border. His
next stop was a charter school in Salem, Mass. “Through
those experiences my interest in working with students was
confirmed,” he says. “I knew this was what I wanted to do for
the rest of my life, but I also got really excited about helping
shape schools.”
After studying principal training at the Ed School, Hristic
and his spouse wanted to move to the West Coast, to be
closer to his wife’s family in Alaska. Newberg High School
was divided into five small schools at the time, and Hristic
interviewed for each position in one night and landed the job
at the Yellow School.
“One of the real challenges is to understand your limita-
tions and understand where you can speak from experience
and knowledge and when you need to pull in other resources. I
will never be one of those principals who says, ‘I’ve been in the
classroom 25 years and can tell you from my experience … ,’”
he says. “For those principals who don’t have as much class-
room experience as your staff, I think it’s really important to
recognize that and be honest about it. But that is not to say we
cannot be instructional leaders. It probably means you’re not
going to teach many of your staff members how to be better
teachers, but you can connect them with other teachers you
recognize as highly effective.”
Kim Marshall, Ed.M.’81, works for New Leaders for New
Schools, a nonprofit that places principals — mostly in their
late 20s and early 30s — into urban schools. He says a princi-
pal’s age should not affect job performance.
“There are an awful lot of veteran assistant principals who
want to be principals but just don’t have the burning belief or
the energy to do this kind of work. This is a 70- or 80-hour-
a-week job, just incredibly intense,” says the 62-year-old
Marshall, who taught for more than a decade in Boston
before becoming a principal at age 39 at Boston’s Mather
School, a position he held for 15 years. “If you’re sitting down
giving critical feedback to a 50-year-old high school physics
teacher, it’s tough to do that if you’re 28 years old. But at the
same time, many of these young folks have the talent and
leadership skills to do that.”
Marshall has heard some people express concern that
principals who enter the position at a younger age run the
risk of burning out. “You could turn it around and say it’s
like appointing somebody to the Supreme Court. You want
somebody to be young so they’ll be around for a while,”
Marshall says. “A lot of these folks, though, aren’t going to be
principals for 35 years. They’re going to move up the ranks.”
Allison Gaines Pell, Ed.M.’00, wrote the business plan
for and helped start New Leaders for New Schools, where
Marshall works, while at Harvard. Then in 2006, she found-
ed — and still serves as principal of — the Urban Assembly
Academy of Arts and Letters in Brooklyn. Despite her
accomplishments, Gaines Pell admits that being in her early
30s affected how she presented herself early on. During the
first three years, she wore a suit to school every day to look
different than the teachers.
“This year, I finally decided it wasn’t about the suit,” she
says. “When people see me they often say, ‘Oh, you’re the
principal?’ They expect to see someone older. I don’t think
I look that young anymore; I have some gray hair now, so
that’s good.”
The Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters is
a middle school with 300 students on the third floor of a
building shared with an elementary school. After drafting a
proposal, and after the New York Department of Education
determined a location for Gaines Pell’s school, she hired
teachers and recruited students. The oldest person on staff is
just older than 40.
“I saw the need for a school that was a balance between
the more progressive and more traditional approaches,” she
says. One recent project had sixth-graders asking whether
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 33

ancient Rome was a society of achievement or brutality. The
school partnered with a local arts organization to create illus-
trated A–Z children’s books. Gaines Pell has put in a proposal
to become a K–8 school and hoped to have an answer by fall.
Gaines Pell grew up in Brooklyn and lived in an apart-
ment that’s within walking distance of the building where
she’s now principal. By eighth grade she was writing essays
about education reform. After studying English and graduat-
ing from Brown University, she taught elementary classes
at the K–12 school where she went in Brooklyn Heights.
In total, Gaines Pell has five years in the classroom, which
includes a stint in Syracuse, N.Y. Before starting her own
school, she also worked for an organization called Pencil,
which focuses on developing relationships between business
leaders and public school principals.
“If you define the traditional way to becoming a principal
as 15 or 20 years in the classroom and then an assistant
principal position, then obviously my resume is different,”
she says. “I maintain that leadership requires a lot of different
types of experiences and a lot of those experiences I’ve had
working at a lot of different places.
“That said, I also knew when I started the school that
I was not going to be the most important instructional
leader in the school,” she adds. “I’m good at surrounding
myself with people who know more about things than I.
Instructional expertise must be in the school, but it doesn’t
necessarily have to come from me.”
For the 50-year-old Kathy Barwin, Ed.M.’87, a belief that
she did not possess the skills to be an effective classroom
34 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
instructor led her to quit her job as a middle school read-
ing and language arts teacher in Vermont and go to the Ed
School to study reading, language, and learning disabilities.
For one, as a teacher she had no clue what to do with her
underachieving readers. Following graduation, though, it
was back to the Vermont middle school, where she taught
for 12 more years, putting her total at 17. Barwin is now the
principal of Founders Memorial School, for third-, fourth-
and fifth-graders in Essex Town, Vt. Before accepting that
position, she also worked as a literacy teacher-leader for the
state’s school district, plus accepted a position as a curricu-
lum coordinator.
“The complete advantage to a path like mine is that you
have more credibility with your teachers. They know I’ve been
there, given my background,” she says. “The downside is you
end up with tunnel vision about the public education system.”
Barwin, who has been principal at Founders Memorial
School for five years, says that the principalship is a job
that has evolved. “The old-school model of a principal was
thought of as a management job — making sure the build-
ing was clean, the buses were on time, teachers had money
in their budget — and that model doesn’t cut it anymore,”
she says. “You have to be an expert in education and have
experience differentiating your instruction. There are a lot of
principals who have spent years in the classroom, but they’ve
done the one-size-fits-all type of teaching, and you just can’t
do it these days.”
Technology, Barwin says, is one area in which the younger
principals have the advantage, calling them “technology
“
I think if you have the expertise and the
skills to lead a school, I’m not sure how much
relevancy age should have.”
natives” and herself a “technology immigrant.” At her school,
Barwin has a technology integrationist. “But I’m in luck. I
have four kids and they’re the ones who teach me; they’re my
technology integrationists at home,” she says with a laugh.
“I was joking with my five-year-old and said, ‘When you
grow up and move out of the house, I’m going to have to get
another kid so I can keep up.’”
G
erald Yung, Ed.M.’07, has been principal
at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School in Cambridge,
Mass., for one year. One of the first things he did in-
volved the school’s enrichment block. The volunteers who had
been leading the sessions on topics such as yoga, newspapers,
and cooking were not always reliable, and Yung, 33, asked his
teachers to do the teaching instead, basically adding an hour to
their day.
“That was one of my first moves: Guess what, teachers, I
need you to pick up another block,” Yung says. “There was
some discontent, but not a lot. I remember one of the teach-
ers at the staff meeting said, ‘You know what, Gerald, I think
we’ve seen this coming. We understand how this can really
help our school.’”
Yung attended high school in Cambridge and, after
graduating, went on to study economics and political science
at Emory University in Georgia. To fill some credits, he took a
few teaching classes. “The rumor at the school was the educa-
tion courses were the way to [fill credits],” he says.
Soon he was in an urban Atlanta middle school, teaching
seventh-grade geography students where Atlanta was on a
map. “I was hooked on that ability to transfer knowledge,”
he says. “I loved it when kids had that oh moment and you
knew they understood. As time progressed, I just saw the
challenge of taking those moments and having the ability to
multiply that across a school.”
After graduating from Lesley University in Cambridge
(where he earned another master’s), but before heading to
Harvard, Yung taught eighth-grade U.S. history for six years
in Milton, Mass. Yung’s current job is his second principal-
ship, the first being at a Worcester, Mass., charter school.
Now his school, which has 270 students, grades preK–8,
— Gerald Yung, Ed.M.’09
has applied for a federal grant to expand its dual-immersion
language program, which has kids receive instruction in
both English and Mandarin.
“I think if you have the expertise and the skills to lead a
school, I’m not sure how much relevancy age should have,”
he says.
Hawthorne Elementary in Louisville, where Rosenthal is
principal, is also a dual-language school. On this day in late
May, a week before summer vacation, Rosenthal is sitting in
a tiny blue chair in a kindergarten classroom, listening to
the instructor speak in Spanish, teaching her students about
coins through song.
“¿Como se llama esta moneda?” the children sing, looking
at a picture of a nickel on a chart their teacher is pointing
to. “¡Se llama Thomas Jefferson!” they all shout. Then, in
Spanish, the teacher asks the kids the value of each coin.
Rosenthal records notes on her tablet computer about how
she likes all of the Spanish decorations papering the walls.
Next year, all K–5 Hawthorne students will take their
math and science classes in Spanish. During Rosenthal’s
first year, about two-thirds did. It will be a big change, no
doubt, but after one year parents will then have a choice
to continue with the program. After checking in on the
kindergartners, Rosenthal’s next stop is a fourth-grade math
class, and the teacher is not speaking a word of English. An
overhead projector displays math problems. As she asks
questions, hands shoot up all over the room. “I really have to
pay attention to understand what she’s saying, but the kids
are clearly getting it,” Rosenthal says. “And it’s not taking any
time away from any core content.” After jotting more notes,
it’s on to the next task — backing up e-mails, talking to the
PTA president, and observing children in the library. Always
a next task.
“As a principal, I have a great opportunity to make a dif-
ference in these kids’ lives,” Rosenthal says. “I mean, I know
I’m young. By no means do I think my first year was stellar,
but I’m certain I’ll be a better principal next year — and the
next year and the next year.”
— Josh Moss is a staff writer with Louisville Magazine. This is
his first piece in Ed. Ed.
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 35
 in the media
How does your interest in education trans-
late to your career as a web developer?
I joined Macromedia to work on the
Dreamweaver project because I person-
ally used that tool to learn about web
standards. It’s an education in a box;
just using Dreamweaver will force you
to accept certain ways of doing things. I
used this experience to find a job at the
University of California, Berkeley, teach-
ing adults how to build websites, and
emphasizing the experiential aspect of
learning through building that Seymour
taught me.
I left Macromedia to work at Odeo —
which became Twitter — because I
oneonone
believe strongly in the power of Open
Source as an educational tool. One
with should be able to see how one’s software
Dom Sagolla is built, and be able to fix or extend it.
Michel Utrecht
Odeo was the promise of Open Source,
combined with a new kind of “web app”
that allowed anyone to contribute con-
When Dom Sagolla, Ed.M.’00, was product-testing the earliest version of tent to the public commons using just
their voice. The idea of voice has yet to
what is now known as Twitter, he perfectly summed up — in the site’s 38th take hold, but the idea of writing for the
tweet ever — what in a few short years would be the feeling of millions of public commons was a natural evolution
web users: “Oh this is going to be addictive.” of that idea, and thus Twitter was born.
That intuition has served Sagolla well over the years, as he parlayed his
Tell me about your book, 140
early interest in computer programming into a long career as a web de- Characters: A Style Guide for
veloper, including stints at Macromedia, Adobe, and Odeo (now Twitter). the Short Form. Who should
Sagolla also knew when to strike out on his own, cocreating DollarApp and read it?
iPhoneDevCamp and capitalizing on the emerging consumer trends in hand- Anyone who wants to
write more concisely and
held technology. effectively via e-mail,
But it was earlier in his career when Sagolla’s true focus became apparent. Twitter, Facebook, or
At his first post–Ed School job, Sagolla worked at the MIT Media Lab’s Future other small spaces. The
of Learning project with Seymour Papert, the person whose LOGO program- short form is the oldest form of writing.
Consider the possibilities in headlines,
ming language first awoke a teenaged Sagolla’s inner learner. “Papert
lead sentences, kicker sentences, poetry,
taught me that the computer is a learner’s tool, not necessarily a teacher’s drama, dialogue — the list is endless.
tool,” says Sagolla. “After this experience, I vowed to turn all of my skills 140 Characters is a book about writing,
towards empowering the learner.” and so any writer should benefit.
36 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
Why?
Keeping your point short and sweet is
priceless.
Twitter is obviously a format that young
people respond to. How can educators take
advantage of this?
The way I see it, we as educators must go
where the learners learn. Currently, they
are sharing life experiences and learning
via social networks, and yet it can be a
treacherous road to learn in public this
way. We should be guiding learners with
our experience in writing and reporting,
and providing great examples for them
to follow.
How do you personally
use Twitter?
I have more than 25
accounts, in which I test
every literary and personal
style that I can find in 140
characters. My main account
is there to represent me personally, and
each company or project in which I’m
involved gets an account. I’m always
writing and recommending the work of
others that I enjoy.
One of your companies is DollarApp.
Yes. DollarApp is founded on the prin-
ciple that one feature, developed in one
month by one person, equals one dollar
of value. Got an idea? Whittle it down
to its best feature and ship it quickly.
This approach has allowed us to avoid
taking any investment, ship only the
apps we want, and sustain a business
purely via downloads.
How is it going?
DollarApp will double in size this year
to two people.
Do you produce apps yourself, or do you
provide a service for others’ app products?
At first, DollarApp did do some
consulting, and I’m open to it as time
permits. Since each of our apps has been
well-received, we have the confidence to
continue producing our own ideas for
the time being.
I did contribute to the
official Obama ’08 iPhone
app just before the [presi-
dential] election. That app
was one of the most widely
distributed apps in history and
is credited with generating
more than 41,000 phone calls during
the weeks leading up to President
Obama’s victory.
I’ve also consulted with iPhoneDev-
Camp founder Raven Zachary’s company,
Small Society, to produce their largest
app to date.
Tell me about that project.
iPhoneDevCamp was formed one week
after the launch of iPhone, in reaction
to the critique around the web-only
development kit from Apple. As web de-
velopers, my friends and I embraced the
standard nature of this new browser,
and we were rewarded with more than
40 demos that first weekend. Since then,
it has grown to an international orga-
nization, holding events every month
somewhere in the world. We just com-
pleted iPadDevCamp, which attracted
more than 400 of the world’s top iPhone
developers, resulting in more than 50
excellent demonstrations.
What is your role?
I am one of the cofounders and an
organizer of each event. My responsibili-
ties are to secure the venue, encourage
Ed.
sponsorship, and coordinate our many
satellite locations for a simultaneous,
three-day contest called the Hackathon.
We believe that the best way to learn
is to build, and the finest builders are
minted in the fire of competition.
What makes a good app?
A good app is extremely simple,
high-performing, and reliable. On the
iPhone, the typical user experience is
30 seconds to one minute. That means
you’ve got to provide success for the
user immediately.
On iPad, there is a longer window
that I’m still discovering, but the prin-
ciples of simplicity and craftsmanship
remain. A great app will make a very
difficult task seem easy and obvious to
complete.
What has been your
most successful or widely
adopted app?
I’m pleased to say that
my most successful
app to date has been
Math Cards — quick
quizzes in basic arithmetic for iPhone
and iPod touch. It has earned a place in
Apple’s “Apps for Kids” list and consis-
tently garners good reviews.
My favorite thing about that app is
when I get e-mails from kids who are
using it, some of them very young.
So, when the time comes, how should I
tweet the Web publication of this Q&A?
You can mention it like this: “An
interview with Twitter cocreator @Dom
Sagolla, Ed.M.’00, about his company @
DollarApp and the @iPhoneDevCamp.”
— Marin Jorgensen
• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 37
 in the media
Books
The Artist-Teacher: A Philosophy
for Creating and Teaching
G. James Daichendt
Intellect Ltd, 2010
The Artist-Teacher explores the various
ways art has been taught over the
centuries, using several important
artist-teachers (George Wallis, Walter
Gropius, Richard Hamilton, and Hans
Hoffman) to illustrate the rich and deep
ways artists are able to facilitate learning.
The book serves as a foundational text for
those entering the teaching profession
at all levels, in addition to inspiring
experienced art teachers in all disciplines.
G. James Daichendt, Ed.M.’03, is an
associate professor of art history and
exhibitions director at Azusa Pacific
University in Southern California.
harvard education Press
Humanizing Education:
Critical Alternatives to Reform
Edited by Gretchen Brion-Meisels,
Kristy Cooper, Sherry Deckman,
Christina Dobbs, Chantal Francois,
Thomas Nikundiwe, Carla Shalaby
Harvard Education Press, 2010
From Dayton, Ohio, to
Barcelona, Spain, this collection of
essays carries readers to places where
people have first imagined — and then
organized — their own educational
responses to dehumanizing practices and
conditions. Within a context of continued
calls for education reform, Humanizing
Education seeks to inspire a collective
imagination for radical alternatives. The
contributors offer examples of hopeful
and humanizing educational spaces,
practices, and movements. Kristy Cooper,
Ed.M.’07, Sherry Deckman, Ed.M.’07,
Christina Dobbs, Ed.M.’06, Chantal
Francois, Ed.M.’08, Thomas Nikundiwe,
Ed.M.’07, and Carla Shalaby, Ed.M.’09
are doctoral students at the Ed School.
38 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
Behind the Mask of the Strong Black
Woman: Voice and the Embodiment of
a Costly Performance
Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant
Temple University Press, 2009
In Behind the Mask of the Strong Black
Woman, Beauboeuf-Lafontant interviews
58 black women to explore the restrictive
myth of the “strong black woman.” In
particular, she highlights the toll that this
performance of invulnerability takes,
including eating disorders and depression.
Drawing on black feminist scholarship,
cultural studies, and voice-centered
research, the book traces the historical
and social influences on black femininity,
maintaining that the expectation of
strength creates a distraction from broader
forces of discrimination and imbalances
of power. Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant,
Ed.D.’97, is associate professor of sociology
and education studies at DePauw
University in Indiana.
Strategic Priorities
for School
Improvement
Edited by Caroline
Chauncey
Forward by Robert
Schwartz
Harvard Education
Press, 2010
This sixth volume in the Harvard
Education Letter Spotlight series is
a collection of influential articles
on the four areas outlined by the
Obama administration as criteria for
states’ entry in the Race to the Top
competition. Topics discussed include:
standards and assessment; using data
to improve instruction; developing
great teachers and leaders; and turning
around failing schools. Robert Schwartz,
C.A.S.’68, is the academic dean and
a professor at the Ed School. Caroline
Chauncey is the editor of the Harvard
Education Letter and assistant director
of Harvard Education Publishing Group.
College Grad Seeks
Future: Turning Your
Talents, Strengths,
and Passions into the
Perfect Career
Howard Greene and
Matthew Greene
St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010
College Grad Seeks Future aims to help
new college graduates entering the current
competitive job market by showing
them how not to settle. The authors help
jobseekers find their true callings, pursue
the field that best fits their talents and
passions, and utilize their unique skills
to build careers efficiently and effectively.
Howard Greene, Ed.M.’64, is a former
admissions officer at Princeton University.
Education Unbound: The Promise and
Practice of Greenfield Schooling
Frederick Hess
Association for Supervision & Curriculum
Development, 2010
In Education Unbound, Hess advocates
for an entrepreneurial approach focused
on supporting outstanding teaching
and learning, to inspire infrastructural
change of the education system. The
author builds a case for school systems
marked by performance and productivity,
and compelled to compete on cost and
quality; personnel policies designed to
attract, retain, and reward teachers and
leaders committed to excellence; and
education funding configured to support
new ventures and foster creative problem
solving. Hess argues the resolution ought
not to be the creation of a new best system,
but creating schools that are capable of
evolving with the students and society they
serve. Frederick Hess, Ed.M.’90, is a resident
scholar and director of education policy
studies at the American Enterprise Institute
for Public Policy Research.
Feeding the Sheep
Leda Schubert, Pictures by Andrea U’Ren
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010
This picture book tells the story of a
mother tending a family’s small flock
of sheep, and her little girl watching
and asking, “What are you doing?” As
the seasons change, the mother shears,
washes, cards, dyes, spins, and knits the
sheep’s wool. Told in a rhyming question-
and-answer format, Feeding the Sheep is a
playful and informative read-aloud. Leda
Schubert, M.A.T.’71, is a faculty member
at Vermont College.
Harnessing America’s
Wasted Talent: A New
Ecology of Learning
Peter Smith
Jossey-Bass, 2010
According to Harnessing
America’s Wasted Talent,
statistics reveal that within 10
years, fewer than 20 percent of all ninth-
graders in the United States will go on
to earn associate’s degrees. In the book,
Smith defines and describes innovative
thinking about the current causes for our
schools’ failings and discusses how these
failures have profound and far-reaching
social, civic, and economic consequences.
Peter Smith, M.A.T.’70, Ed.D.’83, is senior
vice president of academic strategies and
development for Kaplan Higher Education.
Let’s Cook! Healthy Meals for
Independent Living
Elizabeth Riesz and Anna Kissack
Appletree Press, 2010
Featuring more than 50 easy-to-follow
recipes, Let’s Cook makes cooking accessible
to everyone. Geared toward teens, special
needs adults, seniors, or anyone else who
needs to gain confidence in the kitchen, this
guide promotes self-reliance and reinforces
life skills for independent living. Elizabeth
Riesz, Ed.M.’60, recently retired from her
long career in education and lives in Iowa
with her husband, Peter.
The Moral Ecology of South Africa’s
Township Youth
Sharlene Swartz
Palgrave Macmillan, 2009
This account of the moral lives of young
black South Africans post-apartheid shows
how partial-parenting, partial-schooling,
and pervasive poverty contribute to how
a group of young people construct right
and wrong and what rules govern their
behavior. Sharlene Swartz, Ed.M.’03, is a
sociologist and senior research specialist at
the Human Sciences Research Council in
South Africa.
No More “I’m Done!”: Fostering
Independent Writers in the Primary
Grades
Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Stenhouse, 2010
No More “I’m Done!” shows teachers how to
develop a primary writers’ workshop that
helps nurture independent and engaged
writers. Jacobson demonstrates how to
create a more productive, engaging, and
rewarding writers’ workshop, creating a
supportive classroom environment through
establishing effective routines. The book
provides an entire year of developmentally
appropriate mini-lessons meant to build
confidence and independence. Jennifer
Richard Jacobson, Ed.M.’86, is a former
primary school teacher who currently works
as a literacy consultant.
Organizational Ethnography: Studying
the Complexity of Everyday Life
Edited by Frans Kamsteeg, Harry Wels,
Dvora Yanow, Sierk Ybema
Sage, 2009
Organizational Ethnography presents
contributions from leading scholars
in organizational studies that help to
develop an ethnographic perspective on
organizations and organizational research.
The authors explore the special problems
faced by organizational ethnographers,
from questions of gaining access to
research sites to various styles of writing
ethnography, the role of friendship
relations in the field, ethical issues, and
standards for evaluating ethnographic
work. Dvora Yanow, Ed.M.’76, is the
strategic chair in meaning and method at
Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.
Research on Urban Teacher Learning
Edited by Andrea Stairs and Kelly Donnell
Information Age Publishing, 2010
Research on Urban Teacher Learning
Ed.
presents a range of evidence-based
analyses focused on the role of contextual
factors on urban teacher learning. In three
parts, the book introduces the reader to
the conceptual and empirical literature
on urban teacher learning; shares eight
research studies that examine how, what,
and why urban teachers learn in the
form of rich longitudinal studies; and
analyzes the ways federal, state, and local
policies affect urban teacher learning and
highlights the synergistic relationship
between urban teacher learning and
context. Kelly Donnell, Ed.M.’90, is
assistant professor at Roger Williams
University in Rhode Island.
Seven Secrets of the Savvy
School Leader
Robert Evans
Jossey-Bass, 2010
In Seven Secrets, Evans seeks
to answer the question, “How
can we make school leadership
more doable and offer hope to
both experienced and beginning leaders?”
A former teacher and school consultant,
the author uses his own experience with
school leaders to describe the qualities and
behaviors that lead to success as school
administrators. Robert Evans, M.A.T.’67,
Ed.D.’74, is a clinical and organizational
psychologist and director of Human
Relations Service in Wellesley, Mass.
The Sociocultural Turn
in Psychology
Edited by Suzanne
Kirschner and Jack Martin
Columbia University Press,
2010
This collection of
essays describes the
discursive, hermeneutic, dialogical, and
activity approaches to sociocultural
psychology — the act of treating of
psychological processes as made up
within social and cultural practices. Rather
than view the formation and evolution of
individuals’ brains as purely biological, The
Sociocultural Turn emphasizes the growth
of the human mind in relation to others
• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 39
 ON MY BOOKSHELF: Associate Professor Mark Warren
in the media
Currently reading: Caucasia by Danzy Senna
First impressions: It’s beautifully and powerfully
written. Now that I’ve tried to write a few books
myself, and know how hard it is, I take great
pleasure in reading terrific prose.
40 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010
Favorite spot to curl up with a good book: I like
to read in my father’s old armchair. When he was
alive, he used to read to my daughters while they
sat in his lap on that chair.
Noneducation genre of choice: Books about
food. I should say it’s because they offer a win-
dow into the cultures of different communities
and societies — and they do — but, really, it’s
because I love to cook and I love to eat!
How you find the time: Mostly, I don’t. When I’m
not working, I prioritize time with my family. By
the time my kids are in bed, I’m often too tired to
read. But I keep trying! Meanwhile, my daughters
are great readers and they have no trouble find-
ing the time to consume books. It’s not fair!
Next up: I watched a documentary on the his-
tory of whaling and that reminded me that I’ve
always wanted to read Moby Dick. Where will I
ever find the time for that one?
Visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras to
read Warren’s complete answers.
Warren’s most recent book is
Fire in the Heart: How White
Activists Embrace Racial Justice.
tanit sakakini
in the world. Suzanne Kirschner, Ed.M.’82,
Ed.D.’91, is associate professor of psychology
at the College of the Holy Cross and a fellow
of the American Psychological Association.
Teenage Tata: Voices of Young Fathers
in South Africa
Arvin Bhana and Sharlene Swartz
HSRC Press, 2009
Teenage Tata presents an in-depth
portrait of impoverished young South
African men who became fathers while
teenagers. Offering insights into young
fathers’ personal, emotional, financial, and
cultural struggles as they come to terms
with fatherhood, this study highlights their
strong sense of responsibility, depicting
poignant accounts of emotional engagement
with their children and the women in their
lives and analyzing the motivating power of
their own absent fathers on their parenting
intentions. Sharlene Swartz, Ed.M.’03, is a
sociologist and senior research specialist at
the Human Sciences Research Council in
South Africa.
The Twenty-first Century University:
Developing Faculty Engagement in
Internationalization
Lisa Childress
Peter Lang Publishing, 2009
The Twenty-first Century University
identifies what successful institutions have
done to overcome internal challenges
and successfully engage faculty in the
internationalization process. Examining
two cases of internationalization, this
book extrapolates strategies for colleges
and universities to adapt to their
unique institutional cultures, histories,
and priorities, to support faculty in
internationalizing their teaching, research,
and service. Lisa Childress, Ed.M.’99, has
served as an internationalization leader at
universities in the United States and Japan.
Unwanted Hair and Hirsutism
Alison Amoroso
YourHealthPress, 2009
In this book, Amoroso defines the
differences between “unwanted hair” and
the medical problem of hirsutism. All
available treatments and hair removal
techniques are explored, including risks
and benefits of each. Useful charts and
illustrations, combined with accessible
language, make this book a resource for
women of all ages who may be silently
plagued by this health problem. Alison
Amoroso, Ed.M.’90, has been writing and
editing on women’s health for more than
20 years.
Why Good Kids Act
Cruel: The Hidden
Truth about the
Pre-Teen Years
Carl Pickhardt
Sourcebooks, 2010
The question of why
good children treat
one another badly is one that parents
often seek to answer as their children
approach high-school age. Unfortunately,
by that time, it may be too late. In Why
Good Kids Act Cruel, Pickhardt explores
adolescence — a stage filled with anxiety,
uncertainty, and insecurity — and
explains how even the best and the
brightest kids can end up being cruel to
others while giving parents tools to help
their children through the difficult times.
Carl Pickhardt, Ed.M.’66, is a psychologist
and author living in Austin, Texas.
Blogs and More
The Itinerant Professor
www.donheller.blogspot.com
Don Heller
Started while on sabbatical in London
last year, Heller’s personal blog contains
musings on higher education policy issues
in the United States and abroad, as well
as anything else that, as he writes, “strikes
[his] fancy.” Don Heller, Ed.M.’92, Ed.D.’97,
is a professor of education and director
of the Center for the Study of Higher
Education at Penn State University.
Ed.
Naturally Educational: Learning
and Discovering Through Play
and Exploration
www.naturallyeducational.com
Candace Lindemann
Naturally Educational is dedicated to the
idea that children learn naturally through
play and exploration, and that with the
help from their parents, professional
educators, and a few carefully chosen
materials, kids can fulfill their innate
potential. The website seeks to build a
community dedicated to quality curricula,
advising on education initiatives, and
consulting on the creation and use of
learning toys and products to empower
a child’s learning potential. Candace
Lindemann, Ed.M.’00, is a curriculum
designer and educational writer and the
founder of Naturally Educational.
Observances and Inferences
www.shanetutwiler.blogspot.com
Michael Shane Tutwiler
Tutwiler’s personal blog explores
observations of current trends in
education research and practice and
deduces how they might affect learners.
Michael Shane Tutwiler is a doctoral
student studying the intersect of science
education and technology at the Ed School.
Ed. magazine provides notice, on a space-
available basis, of recently published books,
blogs, podcasts, and websites by HGSE
faculty, alumni, and students. Send your
name, degree, and year of graduation, along
with the title of the book, the publisher, and
date of publication, or a URL link to your
blog, podcast, or website.
Ed. magazine, In the Media
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Office of Communications
44R Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
E-mail: medianotes@gse.harvard.edu
Fax: 617-495-7629
• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 41
 alumni news and notes
1957
Abdulwahid Lu’lu’a, Ed.M.,
is settled in the United Arab
Emirates as cultural consultant
to the governor of Dubai. He
has published nine books on
literary topics. Lu’lu’a hopes
to touch base with old friends
from Harvard through this note:
awlulua@yahoo.com.
1962
Vaughn Nelson, Ed.M., wrote
the chapter on wind energy
for Texas Renewable Resource
PROFILE
Autumn McDonald, Ed.M.’07, is thinking about the world and her place in it.
When asked what the appeal is of
working in the nonprofit sector,
Autumn McDonald, Ed.M.’07,
answers simply, “The people.”
She says, “I was always drawn to
mission- and vision-driven orga-
nizations that saw a time or space
when educational opportunities
would be different, and those not
receiving an outstanding educa-
Assessment, 2008. The report is
available online from the State
Energy Conservation Office. His
book, Wind Energy: Renewable
Energy and the Environment,
was published in March 2009 by
CRC Press.
1978
Larry Stybel, Ed.D., is producer
and host of Inside Leadership,
a national program sponsored
by the Center for Innovation &
Change Leadership where the
“next generation of self-made
leaders” get to interview the
leading “self-made leaders of this
generation.” He is executive-in-
It was held at St. George’s House
on the grounds of Windsor
1983
residence at the Sawyer Business Castle in England. Jim Killacky, Ed.D., just
School at Suffolk University in completed his second year as
Boston and president of Stybel professor of education and
Ron Kronish at Windsor Castle
Peabody Lincolnshire, founded director of the doctoral program
in 1979. in educational leadership at
Appalachian State University in
1979 Boone, N.C. In May, he was rec-
ognized as faculty mentor of the
year at the ASU Reich College of
Ronald Kronish, Ed.D., partici-
Education.
pated in a special consultation
titled “Effective and Sustainable
Reconciliation” in May with 30
1985
scholars and practitioners from
the United Kingdom, Northern Jotham Johnson, Ed.M., retired
Ireland, Sierre Leone, and Israel. in June after nearly 30 years at
Princeton University’s Alumni
and Development Offices, prin-
cipally as director of leadership
and director of stewardship. At
reunion weekend in May, John-
son was one of three alumni to
receive the Alumni Council’s
award for service to Princeton.
He hopes to keep involved with
is possible is changed, as is their some consulting work.
desire to achieve success and [their]
confidence in their ability to do it.”
As national director of strategic
1989
initiatives, McDonald has helped Richard Finnegan, Ed.M., has
expand Genesys Works into other been awarded distinguished
Fulbright chair in the faculty
cities. The St. Paul, Minn., branch — of social science at Masaryk
which opened in 2008 — boasts University for 2010–11.
participation from Fortune 500
companies like 3M, Ecolab, and Land John Moran, Ed.M., became
courtesy of autumn mcdonald
1991
James Caradonio, Ed.D., for-
mer superintendent of schools
in Worcester, Mass., recently
had a school in the city named
for him. The Dr. James A.
Caradonio New Citizen Center
serves children from overseas
with significant gaps in their
education, either because they
were in refugee camps or were
out of school for other reasons.
1992 The HGSE Recent Alumni Circle Committee of Washington,
D.C., hosted a networking event on March 22, 2010, featuring
the panel, “Education in Theory and Practice: Discussing the
Tension Between Theory and Practice and Applying What We
Learned at HGSE in our Work Everyday.”
1999 setts Department of Early Edu-
cation and Care. She recently
Nicholas Leonardos, Ed.M., returned from a month-long trip
Don Heller’s vanity plate was hired as principal of the
around the world that included
Maria L. Baldwin School in a visit to the Dead Sea. In her
Donald Heller, Ed.M., Ed.D.’97, Cambridge, Mass. He writes,
“I am leaving South School in
free time she supports causes
for children with autism.
was recently reappointed to
a second three-year term as Stoneham after eight terrific
director of the Center for the years and am looking forward
Study of Higher Education at to a wonderful term at the
Baldwin.”
Penn State. The center has 14
faculty and two dozen gradu-
ate assistants who conduct Alicia Savage, Ed.M., recently
research on all aspects of higher was named executive direc-

the superintendent of Valley education in the United States tor of the South Shore Charter
tion experience would.” ‘O Lakes. Chicago opened earlier this Christian Schools in Dublin, Public School in Norwell, Mass.,
and other countries.
Genesys Works is just the kind year, with a New York branch soon Calif., in August 2008. He just after two decades in the Boston
of people-driven organization to follow. The expansion is a big completed a five-year strategic Public Schools.
she means. Based in Houston, reason why McDonald, who started plan that is aimed at achieving
excellence in academics and
1994
the nonprofit in which McDonald
serves as national director of strategic initiatives places low-
as a consultant, decided to accept a
permanent role with the organization.
student leadership, and has in- Steven Seleznow, Ed.M.’80, 2000 Kathleen Hart
cluded the schools in the Quest Ed.D., moved from the Gates
Institute to develop curriculum Foundation to the Arizona Nadine Butcher Ball, Ed.D.,
income, urban high school seniors into challenging work environ- “I was excited to see how Genesys Works planned to take the
was promoted to full professor
ments such as Continental Airlines, Exxon, and NASA. Its goal is to program beyond impacting a few hundred students, and wanted and instruction standards for
Valley Christian Schools. He is
Community Foundation in
March. He is the president and at Maryville University in St. 2003
raise students’ confidence to the point where higher education to become a part of that process,” she says. currently working with an in- chief executive officer. Louis, Mo., after successfully
initiating sustainability initia- Katrina Sarson, Ed.M., recently
and professional futures are a given. Since the organization was And the flexibility doesn’t hurt. McDonald also runs her com- ternational group to develop an completed a documentary,
international school in Korea. tives campus-wide. In her free
founded in 2002, about 95 percent of Genesys Works’ graduates
have enrolled in college immediately following the completion of
pany, Catalyst Education Consulting, allowing her to stay involved
in all the diverse areas of education that interest her, from policy 1998 time, Ball enjoys spending time
on the Mississippi in kayaks
Teaching Creativity: Is Art the
Answer?, that explores the state
high school; many of them are the first in their families to do so. to research to curriculum design, as well as meet others who, like Elizabeth Cowles Gavron, with her husband, Tom, and of arts education in public
Ed.M., has been appointed prin- tending their cats. schools around Oregon. The
This degree of success doesn’t surprise McDonald, having seen her, want to affect the education sector for the better. film, which aired on Oregon
cipal of Wayland (Mass.) Middle
the progress firsthand. “It’s great to work with people who are passionate about the Public Broadcasting in May,
School. Gavron previously
“I could see this transition happening in individual students same issues, and there are some truly brilliant people in this served as assistant principal of 2002 can be viewed at www.opb.org/
teachingcreativity.
who were becoming more excited and confident about their field,” she says. “It is a pleasure to work alongside them and be the school, after teaching math-
ematics there for 10 years and Kathleen Hart, Ed.M., is the
futures and simultaneously taking steps to achieve it in the thought partners, trying to tackle big issues on a whiteboard.” administrative director for the
serving as house leader for nine
internships, in school, and in their pursuit of postsecondary commissioner of the Massachu-
of those years.
education,” she says. “[Through the program,] their belief of what — Marin Jorgensen
John Moran

42 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 43
 alumni news and notes
2004
Jeffrey Chan, Ed.M., filed his
Ph.D. dissertation, “To Impro-
vise is Human: Reconsidering
Planning the Society of Risk,”
at the University of California,
Berkeley in December 2009.
This dissertation, written in
the field of planning and design
theory, considers how to teach
practical improvisation in
planning schools.
PROFILE
PHOTO FINISH
Jesse Howes, Ed.M., who Atif Rafique, Ed.M.’03, is thinking how right
worked with children at Project
Joy in Boston, passed away on
Send your high-resolution digital photos to classnotes@ someone was when they said all you need in life is
gse.harvard.edu. Photos that are not in focus, dark, or at
February 27, 2010, in Jamaica
a low resolution may not be usable. Please identify the
love and money.
from pancreatic cancer.
people in the photo and include a few lines of context.
Steven Kirby, Ed.M., founded The world has been Atif Rafique’s playground. Or, more precisely,
Due to space constraints, we may not be able to print all
a nonprofit to house, educate, it’s been his office. From England to the United States to Pakistan
photos but we will do our best!

courtesy of atif rafique

in English language acquisitions and programs in Cambridge.
Varon-Green loved teaching, but she knew the coordinator posi-
tion would bring better pay and would provide a better platform
from which to strengthen cultural awareness in the community.
As a coordinator in what she calls the “golden age of bilin-
gual education,” Varon-Green helped to create many language
education curriculums, including kindergarten programs taught
in Chinese, Korean, and Haitian-Creole with French. Then, in
November 2002, a ballot initiative passed requiring that all
public classrooms be taught in English. Varon-Green’s bilingual
programs disintegrated.
“That was the hardest disappointment I have ever had in my
life,” she says.
Two years ago, Varon-Green returned to teaching at the Ami-
gos School, where she had taught for 10 years earlier in her ca-
courtesy of corinne varon-green
to Tanzania and, finally, back to England, Rafique, Ed.M.’03, has
traveled the globe in pursuit of a single goal: social inclusion for all.
After studying as an undergraduate at the London School of
Economics, Rafique enrolled at the Ed School to immerse himself
in education, which he felt at the time was “the key to improving
life’s chances.” What he came to learn, though, was that not only
was education an essential component to tackling poverty, but so
was family.
“The evidence on the intergenerational transfer of disadvantage
is really quite clear,” Rafique explains. “If parents have problems
and experience disadvantage, then we need to tackle that at the
same time. My goal now is not merely about ensuring I can con-
tribute to better education for children, but to ensure it is part of a
wider commitment to tackling intergenerational disadvantage.”
So, after stints with the World Bank in Pakistan, where he
worked to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities — “I
was so excited about the job that I jumped on a plane and missed
the [HGSE] graduation ceremony” — and the Dar es Salaam,
“At worst, people experiencing complex problems like these
often fall through the net of mainstream service provision, and at
best, services focus on one of the problems in isolation,” Rafique
explains. “The job of the task force is to ensure there are systems
in place to ensure that the socially excluded get the support . . .
they need to grip all their problems.”
Although the task force is young — it was created in 2006 — it
has already experienced some success. Its Think Family program
expands on Britain’s Sure Start early education program to include
adult services, ensuring that a parent’s needs are being met at
the same time as a child’s, the first step to solving the problem of
intergenerational disadvantage.
Rafique remains committed despite the many discouragements

reer. Amigos is a two-way English and Spanish immersion school
in Cambridge that fosters multicultural relationships.
“Research demonstrates that the students coming out of Ami-
gos outperform monolingual students,” explains Varon-Green.
“Learning two languages represents an academic advantage to
any student no matter the background.”
And she is glad to be back. “Returning to the classroom has
PROFILE brought community to my life again,” she says. “As a school ad-
Tanzania–based Aga Khan University, Institute of Educational
Development, Rafique returned to Britain.
Now, as a member of the British Cabinet Office’s Social Exclu-
sion Task Force, he focuses on strategy and policy with regard
to the socially excluded. The group regularly deals with citizens
affected by issues such as substance abuse, unemployment,
and homelessness.
along the way. Too little money, not enough time, and resistance
to change are common challenges. But Rafique and his colleagues
are undeterred.
“In the words of our director, Naomi Eisenstaedt,” he says, “‘you
need plenty of charm to do what we do.’”
— Marin Jorgensen

Corinne Varon-Green, Ed.D.’04, ministrator I was very isolated. I didn’t meet the parents, I didn’t
meet the kids.” She admits the curriculum is more regimented,
is doing her best to finish her career with a bang. putting a strain on teachers’ structure. “I have to be economical and rehabilitate Haitian orphans
after surviving the earthquake
Star served on her dissertation
committee.
Kristin Michaelson, Ed.M.,
and her husband, Zachary,
2009
with my time,” she explains, so she incorporates her passion for
in Haiti on January 12, 2010. are thrilled to announce the Patty DePalma, Ed.M., will
Nearly 40 years ago, Corinne Varon-Green, Ed.D.’04, was sitting on the arts into her second-graders’ math lessons by having them
a park bench on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston when she met create three-dimensional models of cities.
For information, visit www.
haitihero.org. 2007 birth of their first child, Trent
Breckinridge. He was born on
be acting as vice consul in
Monterrey, Mexico, for her first
a poet. Varon-Green, a painter who had just emigrated from Peru, She also keeps her students engaged through Reading May 4, 2010. diplomatic posting with the
Kelly Langan, Ed.M., was
Foreign Service.
was still finding her bearings in her new country and asked the Buddies, a program that recruits staff and students from the
2006 named as one of five finalists for
stranger how a person could make a living as an artist. The poet
suggested substitute teaching — it offered great flexibility for
Ed School to volunteer time once a week for the length of the
academic year to read to an Amigos student. All the books are Diana Cheng, Ed.M., received
Massachusetts Teacher of the
Year in May. As a finalist, she 2008
her Ed.D. from Boston Univer- was honored at the State House Logan Smalley, Ed.M., trav-
an artist to work on her craft. This simple suggestion would lead provided by Harvard and handpicked by the second-graders. in June and received $2,000 to-
sity School of Education. Her eled to South Africa to teach a
Varon-Green to what would become her career: education. “The relationships are precious,” says Varon-Green. “The ward professional development
dissertation was about middle course, Power of Living/Power
Varon-Green spent the next two decades teaching in Boston children look forward to [it] like I’ve never seen. They don’t look school students’ reasoning or classroom resources from of Giving, which includes a
about steepness, a topic in Hannaford Supermarkets. She is screening of his film, Darius
and Cambridge before she began her doctoral studies at the forward to anything else — not even a field trip!”
mathematics education. Ed a third-grade teacher at the Dr. Goes West.
Harvard Graduate School of Education. The same year, she left Martin Luther King, Jr., School
School Assistant Professor Jon
the classroom to become district coordinator for the bilingual — Jazmin Brooks in Cambridge, Mass.

44 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 45
 alumni news and notes
Commencement 2010 In Memory
Armed with Spanish-language picture books and a year’s Donald Smith, GSE’35
worth of memories, the 2010 graduating class welcomed warm Mrs. Robert Schwarzmann, Ed.M.’40
weather, a new school song, and celebrities like Meryl Streep Mary Willis Dobbins, M.A.T.’41
and David Souter. Visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras to view Eliot Silverman, M.A.T.’41
more commencement photos, as well as stories and a video. Frederick Eugene Ellis, Ed.M.’44, Ed.D.’48
Gloria Gallic Perkins, GSE’45
Robert Shaver, M.A.T.’46
John Grady, GSE’47
Arthur Pethybridge, GSE’49
Olga Santora, Ed.M.’52
Kenneth Lowell Beasley, M.A.T.’53
Gerald Atkinson, M.A.T.’54
Henry Collins, M.A.T.’55
Donald Elwell, M.A.T.’55
Carmen Chance Mayer, Ed.M.’55
Joan Huth Gartside, Ed.M.’56
David Purpel, M.A.T.’56, Ed.D.’61 Robert Howard, Ed.D.’86
G. Wendell Stearns, Ed.D.’57 Michael Richards, Ed.M.’90
William Hull, GSE’60 Ellen Lefcourt, Ed.M.’94
Christopher Newcombe, M.A.T.’61 Cyril Devery Jr., Ed.M.’04
Markley Opdyke, M.A.T.’61
Evelyn Shakir, M.A.T.’61
Phillip Alan Wicky, M.A.T.’61
Willease Frye, Ed.M.’62
Robert Michalek, Ed.M.’63
Loretta Rosenthal, M.A.T.’66
Hersha Fisher, M.A.T.’67, C.A.S.’75, Ed.D.’80
Jane Knitzer, Ed.M.’64, Ed.D.’68
Elizabeth Faherty, Ed.M.’72
Thomas Battiste, Ed.M.’75
Janet Waldron, Ed.M.’75
Christopher Thomas, Ed.M.’79

CLASSNOTES/ADDRESS UPDATE
NAME: YEAR(S)/DEGREE(S):

ADDRESS:

CITY: STATE: ZIP:

E-MAIL:

NOTES FOR PUBLICATION IN ED. OR ON THE ALUMNI WEBSITE:

Ed. and the Alumni Relations Office

welcome news from HGSE alumni about
employment, activities, or publications.
Classnotes will appear either in Ed. or on
the alumni website.

Please e-mail your classnote to classnotes@

gse.harvard.edu or submit online at

www.gse.harvard.edu/alumni_friends/
classnotes/submit_note.

Classnotes can also be mailed to:

Ed. magazine, Classnotes
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Office of Communications
44R Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
r I do not want MY classnote on the web. r this is a new address.
r I want MY classnote only on the web.

46 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 47
 recess impact
the world

jill and ers on

Shutter Bug by Lory Hough
Not everyone likes Professor Dan Koretz’s photography. photographed at their regular size — shows an intricate vein- Academic programs

passion commit
ment
Students and friends occasionally say it’s “gross.” His wife won’t like pattern with light filtering through. Do you know individuals who share: Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
let him hang some of it in their house. And Koretz doesn’t This is Koretz’s second foray in photography. He first Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.)
quite understand why. picked up a film camera, a 35mm, single-lens reflex Mamiya
Your to Master of Education (Ed.M.)
Bugs and spiders, he says, can be really interesting. Sekor, when he was in college. Eventually, he got too busy to Your
• Arts in Education
making the world a better place

belief
Especially when photographed the way he likes to photo- spend serious time with the hobby, and so when his camera for education • Education Policy & Management
graph them: up close. broke, he decided to stop photographing. Years passed before
• Higher Education
“In lots of cultures, bugs are not seen as aversive. In fact, he got interested again.
• Human Development & Psychology
in many cultures, people eat them,” Koretz says smiling. “Once digital cameras got better, I thought it was foolish • International Education Policy
“When you look very closely, you can see that many of them not to be shooting, so I got a new camera,” Koretz says, this
Your that education is
• Language & Literacy
are fascinating creatures, and some, such as damselflies, are time a Canon 50D. When a knee injury sidelined him from central to the well-being of society • Learning & Teaching
really beautiful.” other hobbies like hiking, he decided to focus on the easier- • Mind, Brain, & Education
Of course, bugs and spiders are not the only things Koretz on-the-knees macro photography with an emphasis on nature. • Prevention Science & Practice
shoots. Lately, he’s also been into flowers and mushrooms. “It’s hard to find things in a household or office that are If they share your dream of transforming education, • School Leadership
But no matter the subject, what really intrigues Koretz is how interesting in detail, but in nature, it’s easy,” he says. “If you we invite you to refer them to us: • Special Studies
he takes the photos: using a macro lens that lets him capture look close enough.” • Teacher Education
images that are at least as big as the real-life subjects. This Even if it is a barn spider eating a bug for dinner. • Technology, Innovation, &
approach, Koretz says, can turn seemingly boring subjects into
www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/connect/referral Education
beautiful pieces of art. In his office, for instance, a close-up Visit www.dkoretz.smugmug.com to view more of
shot of five dried, brown hydrangea blossoms — uninspiring if Koretz’s work. We’ll make sure they graduate ready to impact the world.

Admissions Office
48 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 111 Longfellow Hall , 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138 | Phone: 617-495-3414 | Fax: 617-496-3577 | gseadmissions@harvard.edu | www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions
Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 49
 Harvard Graduate School of Education Nonprofit Organization
Office of Communications U.S. Postage PAID
44R Brattle Street Burlington, VT
Cambridge, MA 02138 Permit No. 70

Think you can top these photos? E-mail

us a picture of yourself (or someone in
courtesy of Maxine glass
your family) reading Ed. and you may
find yourself on the back cover, too.

classnotes@gse.harvard.edu

courtesy of kathleen stuebing

courtesy of jason glick

Where’s Ed.?
Clockwise, top to bottom: Maxine Glass, Ed.M.’10, relaxes with her favorite magazine this past July in the Dead Sea.
Kathy Steubing, Ed.M.’89, Ed.D.’94, reads on the banks of the Ambezi River in Zambia, where she has lived since 1970,
and where she works at the Theological College of Central Africa. Closer to home, Jason Glick, Ed.M.’05, shares the
magazine with his fifth-grade homeroom students at the Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Fla., where he has been
teaching for three years.